Epidemiology of Ocular Trauma in a Pediatric Referral Unit, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

We performed a retrospective study of hospital records of children younger than 14 years with ocular trauma seen at our center in Sao Paulo, Brazil, between 2011 and 2012. From the total number of cases, 224 (89.2%) could be easily avoided. Accidents occurred with 5 children under 1 year of age; with one baby as young as 2 months. Also, there was a higher prevalence of ocular trauma in 2-to-6-year-old male patients, mainly caused by accidents resulting from the patient's own actions and occurred at home, usually in the presence of an adult. The average time (range) between the accident and seeking medical care was 17.4 hours (10 minutes to 14 days). There is a need to educate parents for preventing ocular trauma.