COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF GOLF-RELATED OCULAR INJURIES

Abstract

Purpose: 

The authors aimed to analyze the causes and outcomes of golf-related ocular injuries in this retrospective meta-analysis, literature review, and original case series.

Methods: 

Forty-one articles identified by PubMed search resulted in 11 included studies yielding 102 subjects. Included articles described all ocular golf injuries that presented to an institution during a determined period. Eight factors were analyzed: age, sex, location and mechanism of injury, protective eyewear use, resulting open-globe injury, resulting enucleation, and visual acuity changes.

Results: 

No subjects wore adequate protective eyewear. Significantly more subjects were injured by golf balls (72%) than golf clubs (27%) or foreign body (1%) (P < 0.0001). The ratio of golf ball to club injuries was significantly higher in adults (92%) than in children (23%) (P < 0.0001). Forty-seven of 93 (51%) injuries resulted in an open globe, whereas 27/82 (33%) injuries resulted in enucleation. The mean ± SD logMAR visual acuity improved by −0.641 ± 0.745 after treatment (>6 lines of improvement; P = 0.0001).

Conclusion: 

Reported ocular golf injuries occur less frequently than other ocular sports injuries, but may result in devastating outcomes. Supervision of children using golf equipment should be encouraged.

In Brief

A large proportion of reported golf-related eye injuries result in open globes, enucleation, and catastrophic loss of vision. The rate of such injuries may be augmented by wearing proper eye protection and education regarding golf equipment safety.