AIM: To characterize a large cohort of patients presenting to the Department of Ophthalmology in Hunan Children's Hospital for ocular trauma, thus to offer supports for treatment and prevention of ocular trauma in children.

METHODS:The retrospective study was conducted between January 2016 and December 2020, and the medical recorded of 2 298 children(2 332 eyes)diagnosed with ocular trauma in the Ophthalmology Department and Ophthalmic Emergency of Hunan Children's Hospital were reviewed. The record data included gender, age, wounded eye, time of day, injury month, cause of injury, zone of injury, types of ocular injury, complications, method of treatment and prognosis of visual acuity.

RESULTS: The results showed that 44.26% of ocular trauma occurred in the age of 3-6 years old in children, and 1 718 cases(1 745 eyes)in male children versus 580 cases(587 eyes)in female children, with a male to female ratio of 2.96:1.00. The high incidence months were February and November for pediatric ocular injury. Collisions and falls were the main causes, accounting for 40.95%, following with blunt object injury and sharp object injury, accounting for 40.82%. Eyelid and other accessory organs were the main injury sites(65.40%). After injury, 58.62% of the children were treated with debridement, primary closure or topical administration of eye drops, 38.38% were treated with debridement and suturing, and 3.00% were treated with complex intraocular surgery. Most children patients were difficult to cooperate with the vision examination. Among the children who completed the vision examination, 60.60% showed visual impaired due to eye trauma. And after treatment, their vision improved to varying degrees. The severe impairment of visual acuity was mainly caused by corneal contusion, traumatic cataract, vitreous hemorrhage, bulbar foreign body and rupture of eyeball.

CONCLUSION: Pediatric ocular injuries are usually accidental, with an increasing incidence in recent years. The majority of children with ocular trauma are male and preschool children, with generally mild injuries and relatively good visual prognosis. Prevention and education on children's ocular traumas should be emphasized, and timely treatments after injury can effectively reduce the visual damage.