Research Article An Important Cause of Blindness in Children: Open Globe Injuries Meral Yildiz, 1 Sertaç Argun KJvanç, 1 Berna Akova-Budak, 1 Ahmet Tuncer Ozmen, 1 and SadJk Gorkem Çevik 2 1 Department of Ophthalmology, Uludag University, School of Medicine, 16059 Bursa, Turkey 2 Department of Ophthalmology, S ¸evket Yılmaz Training and Research Hospital, 16310 Bursa, Turkey Correspondence should be addressed to Sertac ¸ Argun Kıvanc ¸; sakivanc@gmail.com Received 21 January 2016; Revised 10 April 2016; Accepted 19 April 2016 Academic Editor: Marcel N. Menke Copyright © 2016 Meral Yildiz et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Objective. Our aim was to present and evaluate the predictive factors of visual impairment and blindness according to WHO criteria in pediatric open globe injuries. Methods. Te medical records of 94 patients younger than 18 years who underwent primary repair surgery were reviewed retrospectively. Te initial and fnal visual acuity, anterior and posterior segment fndings, and zone of injury were noted. Te patients were classifed as blindness in one eye or visual impairment in one eye. Results. Of 412 patients who presented with open globe injury, 94 (23%) were under 18 years old. Fify-four (16 females, 38 males) children were included. Te mean age of the children was 7.1 ± 4.1 years. According to WHO criteria, 19 of 54 patients (35%) had unilateral blindness and 8 had unilateral visual impairment (15%). Tere was no signifcant relationship between fnal visual acuity and gender and injured eye. In visually impaired and blind patients, presence of preoperative hyphema, retinal detachment, and zone 2 and zone 3 injuries was signifcantly higher. Conclusion. Presence of hyphema and zone 2 and zone 3 injuries and retinal detachment may end up with visual impairment and/or blindness in children. 1. Introduction Globally, an estimated 70 million blind person-years are caused by childhood blindness. Approximately 500.000 children become blind every year [1]. In least developing countries congenital and developmental cataract, retinal pathology, and congenital anomalies are the main causes of nontraumatic blindness [2]. Ocular trauma is an important cause of eye morbidity and leading cause of noncongenital monoocular blindness among children [3–5]. Worldwide, eighteen million people have uniocular blindness from traumatic injury and every year a quarter of a million of children present with serious ocular trauma [6]. Two percent to 14% of the pediatric ocular trauma patients ended in visual impairment or blindness [7–9]. In this study, our aim was to present and evaluate the predictive factors of visual impairment and blindness according to WHO criteria in pediatric open globe injuries. 2. Methods Of 412 patients who underwent primary repair surgery because of open globe injury at Department of Ophthalmol- ogy, Uludag University, between January 2010 and December 2014, the medical records of 94 patients who were younger than 18 years were reviewed retrospectively. Te Uludag University Hospital administration approved the study. Te patients younger than 18 years old with at least 6 months of follow-up were included. Te exclusion criteria were closed globe injury and major head trauma which might have injured chiasmal and retrochiasmal optic pathways. Te ini- tial and fnal examinations of the patients were evaluated. Te initial visual acuity, fnal visual acuity, anterior and posterior segment fndings, zone of injury, computed tomography, and ultrasound fndings were noted. Zone of injury was classifed according to Ocular Trauma Classifcation Group: zone 1 as wound involvement limited Hindawi Publishing Corporation Journal of Ophthalmology Volume 2016, Article ID 7173515, 5 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/7173515