FP565 : Safety goggles to prevent injury while tending to cattle

Dr.Jitender Kumar

A large percentage of our nation tend to cattle, many of them present with ocular injuries, which lead to blindness in one or both eyes. A majority of these can be prevented with the use of inexpensive eye goggles. A 65 year old man presented with decreased vision, redness and watering in the right eye for the past 2 days. He had suffered the injury while tending to his buffaloes, one of whom had hit his eye with its tail, covered in dung. On examination, the vision in the affected eye was 6/24, there was a dark brown foreign body on the cornea( buffalo dung), at 3 o’clock, covering the medial pupil, with corneal haze and vascularization. The dung was removed. The affected area stained positive with Fluorescein. Antibiotic and anti-fungal drops were put frequently in the right eye. After 48 hours, the corneal haze had reduced, the vasularization had almost disappeared! His vision in the right eye was 6/9. He was given safety goggles and asked to advise others in his village.