Incidence of sympathetic ophthalmia after penetrating eye injury and choice of treatment.

Abstract

Sympathetic ophthalmia, a diffuse bilateral granulomatous panuveitis, is a serious potential complication after penetrating eye injury. Many surgeons recommend enucleation within two weeks of trauma to prevent this condition. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients with penetrating ocular injuries who had either evisceration or enucleation to determine the incidence of sympathetic ophthalmia and to evaluate the surgical interventions and their complications. Age at surgery, time after penetrating trauma, surgery technique, follow-up period, ophthalmic examination of the fellow eye, and surgical complications were evaluated.