Visual fields defects as a possible cause of trauma or falls in the patients blaming trauma for their visual loss

To investigate the possibility of visual field defects as a cause of trauma or falls in glaucoma patients who blamed trauma for their visual loss. Study Design: A hospital based cross sectional observational study Place and Duration of study: Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital Rawalpindi from January 2006 to December 2010. After taking a detailed history of the patients [who correlated their visual problems secondary to trauma / falls], a thorough ocular examination was conducted followed by visual field analysis and ocular coherence tomography of both eyes. All clinical findings and diagnosis were noted on a proforma and data analysis was done using statistical software SPSS 17.0. Out of 384 patients enrolled in the study, the most common type of ocular trauma was blunt close type observed in 229 [59.6%] patients while 81 [21.1%] patients had non ocular trauma. Glaucoma was diagnosed in 324 [84.37%] traumatized and 143 [37.23%] non traumatized fellow eyes while 53 [13.8%] non traumatized eyes were labeled as glaucoma suspects. Glaucoma hemifield test was found outside normal limits in 101[26.3%] non traumatized eyes. Detection of advanced glaucoma in traumatized eyes and visual field defects in a significant number of fellow eyes suggests the possibility of existing visual field defects as a likely cause of injuries or falls in glaucoma patients. This emphasizes the need for developing prevention programs and enhancement of quality of life in glaucoma patients as ignorance of visual field defects can lead to injuries / falls