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. 2019 Jan 21;19(1):26.
doi: 10.1186/s12886-019-1040-2.

Open globe and penetrating eyelid injuries from fish hooks

Konstantine Purtskhvanidze  1 , Mark Saeger  2 , Felix Treumer  2 , Bernhard Nölle  2 , Johann Roider  2
Affiliations

Open globe and penetrating eyelid injuries from fish hooks

Konstantine Purtskhvanidze et al. BMC Ophthalmol. .

Abstract

Background: A few case reports have described accidental eye injuries caused by fish hooks. The severity of ocular injuries is dependent on the involved ocular structures. Severe ocular injuries due to fish hooks are rare. We describe open globe and penetrating eyelid injuries from fish hooks at the Baltic Sea.

Methods: Nine patients with traumatic ocular injuries caused by fish hooks were included. The following parameters were evaluated: severity of injury, best corrected visual acuity at admission and last follow-up, and surgical treatment.

Results: All nine patients were male. Age ranged between 7 and 51 years with a median of 13 years. Sixty-seven percent of the patients were children. Four of the nine patients were 9 years or younger. In 5 eyes (55%) the injury was limited to the eyelid. An open globe injury was found in 4 patients (45%). The mean follow-up was 16.7 ± 32.8 months. All patients required surgical treatment. The number of operations ranged from 1 to 3, with a mean of 1.4. At admission and last follow-up, patients with eyelid injuries showed a median best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) of logMAR 0.0. Patients with open globe injuries showed a median best corrected visual acuity of logMAR 1.5 at admission, and of logMAR 0.6 at last follow-up.

Conclusions: Nearly half of the patients suffered severe penetrating injuries. Especially children misjudge the risk potential of fishing due to their lack of experience. Fishing glasses should be worn not only for UV protection, but also as injury prevention strategy.

Keywords: Eyelid injury; Fish hook; Foreign body; Ocular trauma; Open globe injury; Penetrating injury.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study adhered to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki. For this retrospective type of study formal consent is not required according the regulations of the IRB Universitiy Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein. Informed written consent for participation was obtained from the patients or from the parents of the patients under the age of 18.

Consent for publication

Consent for publication was obtained from the patients and parents of children under 18 whose photos were used in the manuscript.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Penetrating eyelid injuries from fish hooks. a 37-year-old patient with a fish hook in the right upper eyelid with worm still attached. b 51-year-old patient presented with parts of a fish hook in his left lower eyelid. The patient cut off the fishing line and parts of the hook with a side cutter
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
a Left eye of a 8-year-old patient who suffered an open globe injury while practising his fishing skills on land. The fish hook got stuck in a bush and bounced back. Parts of the plant are still attached. Visual acuity was logMAR 2.1 (LP) at admission. b Photograph of the fish hook (sinker’s weight 16 g) after surgical removal. (LP = Light Perception)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
a Same patient as in Fig. 2. Fundus photography 3 months after injury. The black arrow indicates the PVR located nasal of the optic disc. The blue arrow indicates a chorioretinal scar. b 2 months after silicone oil removal and membrane peeling for PVR. No PVR detectable. The blue arrow indicates a chorioretinal scar. (PVR = proliferative vitreoretinopathy)
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
a Same patient as in Fig. 2. Examination 10 months after injury. Slit lamp photography: inferior iris defect and aphakia. b horizontal optical coherence tomography scan. The arrow indicates a photoreceptor atrophy in the fovea. At last follow-up visual acuity was logMAR of 0.6 (5/20)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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