AIM: To determine the pattern, severity, and prognostic factors of ocular injuries in the southwest Ethiopia.

METHODS:A prospective hospital based study was done on all patients presented with ocular injury to Jimma University Specialized Hospital from Apr. to Sep. 2009. Each patient underwent a detailed interview and a standard comprehensive ocular examination. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 13 and P< 0.05 was considered significant.

RESULTS:The overall prevalence of ocular injury was 3.03%. Nearly 99% of ocular injuries were mechanical. The majority of the ocular injuries(53.2%)were work-related and none of these patients had eye protection at the time of injury. Out of 170 globe injuries, 57.6% were closed globe injury and 42.4% were open globe injuries. Closed globe injuries were less severe and had significantly better visual outcome than open globe injuries(P<0.05). The final visual outcome was also significantly associated with presenting visual acuity and time from diagnosis to surgical treatment(P<0.05). Eye injuries were responsible for monocular blindness in 59(34.3%)patients. Late presentation, poor presenting visual acuity, open globe injury and presence of complications were the risk factors identified for poor final visual acuity outcome.

CONCLUSION: Most ocular injuries occurred in the workplace,and a significantly larger proportion of patients with ocular injury developed monocular blindness. For the prevention of serious injuries, eye health education and safety strategies should be applied both at home and work place.