Three hundred and eighty cases of
eye injuries treated at Kyushu University Hospital during from January, 1984 to December, 1989 were statistically analyzed. Ocular
injuries comprised about 10% of the total number of in-patient cases. Males were five times more than females. Among the age groups, those in their teens were the most affected. The most frequent cause of
injuries was blunt
trauma in sports. The effect of the
seat belt legislation in November 1986 in traffic ocular
injuries was examined. Traffic ocular injury cases were about 20% of all cases of ocular
injuries. In the ocular injury, perforating injury was the most among traffic
eye injuries and the visual outcome was poor. However, after the
seat belt legislation the rate of traffic ocular
injuries in total ocular
eye injuries decreased from 26% to 14%. Furthermore, the incidence of perforating
eye injuries caused by shattering windshields decreased significantly and the final visual acuity was better than before legislation. From these results, we conclude that the
seat belt legislation has been effective in decreasing traffic
eye injuries.