A total of 31 patients was included in this study, among which 30 (96.8%) were male and 1 was female (3.2%). The average age was 39 years (ranging from 19-57 y). 16 patients had primary perforation repair in local hospitals and the rest 15 were treated in our hospital after the initial trauma. The initial vision after the trauma was poor in most of the patients, 15 (48.4%) was no light perception (NLP), 10 (32.3%) was between light perception to HM, 2 (6.5%) was between 1/200 to 19/200, and only 4 (12.9%) was between 20/200 to 20/50. The average duration between injury to surgical removal of IOrbFbs was 25 days, ranging from 20 hours to 5 months. 20 (64.5%) IOrbFbs were iron pieces, 2 (6.5%) were steel, 1 was (3.2%) aluminum, 1 (3.2%) IOrbFb was nail, 1 (3.2%) was wood, 1 (3.2%) was stone, 3 (9.7%) were from detonator explosion, 1 (3.2%) was from car accident and 1 (3.2%) was from shotgun.The baseline demographics was showed in Table 1.
Most patients needed many additional surgeries during their ocular rehabilitation, the average number of surgeries was 2.6 (ranging from 1 to 5 times). 3 (9.7%) patients had primary evisceration because the eyes were severely injured to the point where sufficient tissue for repair is not present3.10 (32.3%) patients had secondary evisceration/enucleation for blind atrophic eye during the first 6 months after the initial trauma, and 1 patient was eviscerated for combined panophthalmitis. IOrbFb could not be located in 1 (3.2%) patient during the surgery, 2 (6.5%) patients had multiple IOrbFbs from shotgun or detonator explosion and had some of the IOrbFbs removed, the rest 28 (90.3%) had their IOrbFbs removed.
The size of IOrbFbs varied (Table 2) with an average size of 9 mm, ranging from 2 mm to 35 mm (Figure 1). And the position of the IOrbFbs was shown in Table 2. 10 IOrbFbs were attached to the posterior sclera, 3 were embedded in the optic nerve, 7 were found in the intraconal space, 7 were near the optic nerve (the definition of near was the IOrbFbs locating less than 2mm away from the optic nerve in CT scan) and 4 were protruding from the posterior sclera to the orbit and there was still some part of the foreign body in the eye. The average raw points of OTS of these 31 patients was 40.7, ranging from 8 to 76. OTS was 1 in 18 (58.1%) patients, 2 in 8 (25.8%) patients and 3 in 5 (16.1%) patients. The 17 patients with their injured eyeballs preserved were followed 1 to 44 months, 15.2 months on average. At the time of the last follow-up, the visual acuity was 20/40 or better in 3 (9.7%) patients, 6 (19.4%) patients was between 20/50-20/200, 6 (19.4%) was between 20/200 or worse. 14 (45.2%) patients underwent evisceration/enucleation, besides the 14 patients 2 (6.5%) additional patients had a final visual acuity of no light perception.