AIM: To study the clinical profile of ocular injuries in children in a tertiary care center in Northern India.

METHODS: This was a hospital based descriptive study. All children of ocular injuries up to 16y of age were included. Data regarding the socio-economic status, medical/surgical treatment, and condition at discharge were recorded. Follow-up to 3mo was done in the study. Initial and final visual acuity was recorded. Ocular Trauma Classification Group guidelines and Birmingham Eye Trauma Terminology were used for the definitions and classifications of ocular trauma. Socio-economic status grading is done according to modified B.G. Prasad classification and Kuppuswamy's socio-economic scale.

RESULTS: Out of 42 children, male to female ratio was 3.6:1.Maximum number(50%)of injuries occurred between 11-16y of age. Most of the children(59.52%)belonged to lower socio-economic class and were from arural background. Ocular injuries occurred at home in 20(47.61%)children followed by 6(14.28%)each in school, playground, and street. Open globe injuries were seen in 19(45.24%)children and 23(54.75%)children had closed globe injuries. Injuries by wooden stick, stone, firework, fall, toy were 12(28.57%), 5(11.90%), 3(7.14%), 3(7.14%), and 2(4.76%). Seventeen(40.47%)children required medical management and 25(59.53%)were treated surgically.

CONCLUSION:Male children in rural regions and of lower socio-economic background were more prone to ocular injuries. Children were more risk of ocular injuries at home. Wooden sticks and stone were the commonest cause of ocular injuries. Ocular morbidity and poor visual outcome were seen more in open globe injuries. Further population-based studies are required to reinforce findings of present study. Based on this, a long term strategy can be planned to prevent ocular injuries in children in this region.