Trends in forensic ophthalmology consultations

PURPOSE: Ocular trauma is a leading cause of monocular blindness worldwide, requiring forensic and medical evaluation. This study retrospectively examines forensic ophthalmology consultations, trauma types, and medicolegal implications.
METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted on ophthalmology consultation reports from the Forensic Medicine Clinic at Ordu University Training and Research Hospital (2017–2024). All statistical analyses were performed using IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences Statistics for Windows, Version 22.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). The normality of the data was tested using the Shapiro–Wilk test. If the data were normally distributed, descriptive statistics were reported as mean±standard deviation. If the data were not normally distributed, the Mann–Whitney U test was used, and descriptive statistics were presented as Median (Min-Max). Categorical variables were expressed as frequency (n) and percentage (%). For group comparisons of categorical variables, the Fisher-Freeman-Halton exact test, Chi-square test, and Fisher’s exact test were used. Statistical significance was set at α=0.05.
RESULTS: A total of 123 eyes from 108 patients were included in the study. Among 108 cases, the mean age was 41.84±17.61 years, and 74.1% were male. Blunt trauma was most common (88.8%), while injuries caused by a sharp object were significantly more frequent in males (p<0.05). The mean duration from trauma to forensic evaluation was 3 (0–654) days, with longer delays in trauma from a sharp object cases (p<0.05). The presence of an intraocular foreign body was a key finding in a subset of open-globe injuries, which also showed a higher frequency of fundus pathologies (p<0.05). Post-traumatic severe visual impairment was recorded in 11.7% of right-eye cases and 4.16% of left-eye cases.
CONCLUSION: Forensic ocular trauma cases are predominantly associated with blunt injuries, with males being more frequently affected. In forensic medical reporting, assessing functional impairment and the forensic evaluation process with a multidisciplinary approach is of great importance.

Keywords: Blunt trauma, forensic ophthalmology, medicolegal assessment, ocular trauma, trauma with a sharp object, vision loss.