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Accidental eye injuries are one of the leading causes of visual impairment in Canada. By conservative estimates, over 100,000 eye injuries occur annually; however the exact number of eyes injured, their cause and visual outcomes are not fully known. Reporting these cases is problematic because eye injuries are treated by many physicians and optometrists, not just ophthalmologists.
For this reason, COS under the guidance of the Eye Injury Committee chaired by Dr. David Wong has introduced an online Canadian Eye Injury Registry. Data obtained from the online reporting will be used to identify eye injury patterns and to encourage eye safety in Canada. Its success will depend largely on the regular reporting from community ophthalmologists, ophthalmology residents and emergency room physicians as well as the optometric community.
The reporting form was developed to include basic epidemiological informational questions, as well as questions regarding the cause of injury, clinical findings and visual outcomes (in some cases).
The Eye Injury Registry will prove to be an invaluable tool to promote eye injury awareness and prevention to the public, as well as to the entire ophthalmic community. This Registry also honours the important work by Dr. Tom Pashby who passed away in 2005. Dr. Pashby was instrumental in collecting data on sports Eye Injuries which lead to increased safety through the wearing of visors.
For more information:
Hubert Drouin
Executive Director
Canadian Ophthalmological Society
Tel: (613) 729-6779 ext. 225
E-mail: hdrouin@eyesite.ca
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