Visual outcome and ocular survival after sports related ocular trauma in playing golf.

PURPOSE: To study eye injuries. More specifically, to study the visual performance and ocular findings in people generating the eye trauma while golfing and to define the main mechanisms of injury. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed a case series of seven patients with golf-related eye injuries treated at Austrian hospitals over the last seven years in a multicenter setting. RESULTS: Five men and two women received treatment. The mean age was 46 (range, 29-63), and three of the patients had blunt close globe trrauma and four suffered from a ruptured globe. Following the injuries, the patients' initial visual acuity ranged from no light perception to 20/40. All of the patients recquired surgery, with the resulting visual acuily ranging from moving hands to 20/20. It should be noted that three eyes required enucleation. CONCLUSION: Visual outcome from surgery is frequently very poor in golf related injuries. This is further complicated by these traumas frequently being accompanied by a high enucleation rate. Among the patients reviewed, it was observed that ruptured globe trauma has a worse prognosis than close blunt trauma. Due to the severe resulting complications of golf-related ocular injuries, we believe eye protection should be considered and emphasized.

Opacification of a silicone intraocular lens caused by calcium deposits on the optic.

We describe opacification of a plate-haptic silicone intraocular lens (IOL) caused by calcification in a diabetic patient with asteroid hyalosis. The IOL was explanted 48 months after uneventful phacoemulsification because opacification of the posterior surface was causing significant visual disturbance. Light and scanning electron microscopy and x-ray spectrometry of the explanted IOL showed the opacification consisted mainly of calcium and phosphate, presumably hydroxyapatite, in the form of precipitations on the posterior surface of the optic.

Evaluation of polymerase chain reaction for the detection of adenoviruses in conjunctival swab specimens using degenerate primers in comparison with direct immunofluorescence.

PURPOSE: To investigate a rapid and sensitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based assay for the detection of adenoviral infections in conjunctival swabs. METHODS: Degenerate primers derived from the adenoviral hexon gene were designed for amplification of a 302-bp product by PCR. In 15 ocular swab specimens, using a simple sample preparation method, PCR was compared with a commercially available direct immunofluorescence test. RESULTS: Fourteen samples of patients with clinically diagnosed adenoviral keratoconjunctivitis, when screened by direct immunofluorescence, were positive for adenoviral protein. In all samples positive by immunofluorescence, the 302-bp product was amplifiable. The sample negative by direct immunofluorescence was positive using PCR. CONCLUSION: PCR using degenerate primers proved to have several advantages over current diagnostic techniques. It offers considerable improvement in sensitivity over immunoassays and speed over tissue culture isolation and is a highly potential tool for the diagnosis of adenoviral ocular infections.