CASE REPORTS
Management of intra-orbital wooden foreign bodies at a resource-limited setting in Sub-Saharan Africa
Niranjan K Pehere1, Unity Fahn Dokie1, George Tamba Bornguoi1, Kebede Gofer2, Anasua Ganguly Kapoor3, Milind Naik
4
1 Liberia Eye Center, L V Prasad Eye Institute Liberia (Inc.), John F Kennedy Memorial Medical Center, Monrovia, Liberia
2 Department of Radiology, John F Kennedy Memorial Medical Center, Monrovia, Liberia
3 Ophthalmic Plastic Surgery Unit, L V Prasad Eye Institute, Kode Venkatadri Chowdary Campus, Vijayawada, India
4 Ophthalmic Plastic Surgery Unit, L V Prasad Eye Institute, Kallam Anji Reddy Campus, Hyderabad, India
Dr. Niranjan K Pehere
Liberia Eye Center, L V Prasad Eye Institute Liberia (Inc.), John F. Kennedy Memorial Medical Center, Monrovia. Liberia
Source of Support: None
Conflict of Interest: None
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Introduction: Wooden intra-orbital foreign bodies (IOrbFBs) have a high risk of microbial contamination needing timely diagnosis and treatment. We describe management of three cases of wooden IOrbFB at a resource-limited setting in Liberia.
Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective case series of three patients with IOrbFB managed at the Liberia Eye Center, Monrovia, Liberia. Demographic details, mode of injury, ocular examination findings, neuroimaging, surgical treatment, and clinical findings on post-operative follow-up visits were noted for each patient. Results: All the three patients were young, male, and were involved in traumatic incidents (fall in two cases and road traffic accident in one case). Two patients with visible wooden FB presented within 48 h of injury and one patient with occult FB presented after 2 weeks. All patients underwent orbital imaging followed by surgical exploration for the removal of FB. One patient also had coexisting orbital cellulitis, which was successfully treated medically. One of these patients had best corrected visual acuity of 20/20, and the other two had no perception of light in the affected eyes.
Conclusion: History of injury with a wooden material should raise a high index of suspicion for an occult IOrbFB. Timely diagnosis and treatment of wooden IOrbFB can be challenging in a resource-limited setting, but with a systematic approach they can be treated satisfactorily.
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