Objective: To report the epidemiological characteristics of pediatric open globe injuries and to discuss treatment, management and outcomes of such injuries. Materials and Method: The hospital records and operative notes of 95 patients 16 years old and younger who were treated for open eye injury at Ibn Sina Hospital, Kuwait between September 1995 and January 1999 were reviewed. The average age of patients was 6.6 years. Patients were divided into three groups according to their final visual acuity (FVA): group 1, FVA of 20/40 or better; group 2, 20/40–20/200, and group 3, 20/400 or worse. The FVA of each group was compared to initial visual acuity (IVA), wound entry site, injury-to-presentation interval, injury-to-surgery interval, time of surgery, duration of surgery, associated injuries and medical treatment. Results: Injury was most common in children 3–6 years old. Most injuries occurred during play at home (46%), between the months of July and November (58%), and evening time (42%). The most common causes were glass, pencil, stick, soft drink bottle, metal bar, and stone. The cornea was the most common entry site (59 cases). Seventy-three patients presented on the day of injury, and 38 of them had surgical repair that same day. The follow-up period ranged from 2 weeks to 58 months. Thirty-eight patients (40%) had an FVA of 20/40 or better (group 1), 23 (24%) between 20/40 and 20/200 (group 2), 12 (13%) 20/400 or worse (group 3), and 22 (23%) had no record of FVA. The difference between IVA and FVA of wound entry site was statistically significant (p < 0.005). Differences due to injury-to-presentation interval, injury-to-surgery interval, time of surgery, duration of surgery, associated injuries, and the use of systemic antibiotics were found not to be statistically significant (p > 0.2). Conclusion: The prevalence of open globe injury among the pediatric population in Kuwait was high. Most injuries were due to household objects and occurred at home in the evening during the summer and autumn. IVA and anatomical location of the wound impacted on final outcome.

Objective: To assess the frequency of intraopertive difficulties, postoperative complications and the visual outcome in cataract surgery performed at the Al-Bahar Eye Center, Kuwait. Subjects and Methods: This case series study is comprised of 350 eyes from 325 subjects (169 male, 156 female; 30–78 years, mean age 64 years) undergoing consecutive cataract surgery performed at the Al-Bahar Eye Center, Kuwait from July 2001 to June 2002. All the eyes underwent extensive ophthalmic examinations before and after surgery. Details of surgical procedures, including the type of the cataract surgery, intraoperative difficulties or complications, postoperative complications, and the visual outcome were documented. Results: The extracapsular cataract extraction (ECCE) technique was used for 50.2% of the eyes and for the remaining 49.8%, the small-incision phacoemulsification technique was used. Of the 350 eyes operated upon, 9.7% had coexisting ocular disease which may have affected the best spectacle corrected visual acuity (BSCVA). Complications included posterior capsule tears and vitreous loss (10%), cystoid macular edema (0.6%) and endophthalmitis (0.9%) of the eyes. A BSCVA of 6/12 or better was achieved in 78.3% of the cases. Conclusion: A high success rate in terms of visual acuity outcome was achieved in the cataract surgery. The operative and postoperative complications were similar for both techniques, ECCE and phacoemulsification.

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