The visual prognosis of a perforation of the eyeball: a retrospective study.

In the literature there is agreement about the variable prognosis of an ocular perforation, but analysis of the factors which affect the prognosis is rare. In this article the factors which determined the final visual in 60 perforation cases are discussed. One third of the total number of eye lost useful vision (visual acuity less than 0.1) while 43% retained good sight (visual acuity greater than 0.8). The visual outcome is considered for each prognostic factor. It is striking that the three most unfavourable prognostic factors often occur together: a traffic accident, a large to extremely large perforation and a corneo-scleral localization. Suggestions for the prevention of the most frequent causes are made, and early therapeutic measures are described which should be able to be performed in every large clinic.