Analysis of ocular injury 1-year outcome in survivors of Beirut Port ammonium nitrate blast

Purpose Ascertain the 1-year outcome of patients who sustained open eye injuries from the Beirut Port ammonium nitrate (AN) explosion, one of the most powerful non-nuclear explosions in history. Methods Retrospective chart review of the operated eyes in 2 major eye hospitals. Results Out of 42 patients with open globe injury that was originally sutured, 29 patients (34 eyes) were followed at the 1-year mark. The initial vision in logMAR (mean ± SD) was 2.93 ± 0.87 (hand motion equivalent) and the final vision was 1.80 ± 1.47 (counting finger 2 m equivalent). No light perception (NLP) vision was noted in 12 eyes on presentation and 10 eyes remained so, while 2 eyes reached light perception (LP) vision. Eight eyes had an intraoperative expulsive choroidal hemorrhage (7 NLP and 1 LP both pre- and postoperatively), and 6 of the 8 developed phthisis. All eyes that developed phthisis had NLP preoperatively and postoperatively. Ocular Trauma Score (OTS) correlated inversely with both initial and final vision ( p