KNOWLEDGE AND AWARENESS OF CHEMICALLY INDUCED OCULAR EMERGENCY

ABSTRACT

Ocular chemically induced emergency can result in severe visual impairment, damage to ocular tissues and irreversible loss of vision. Thus it requires urgent medical attention. Acid and alkaline substances are responsible for chemical eye injuries. The study was aimed at determining the level of awareness and knowledge of chemically induced ocular emergency among clinical and non-clinical students and their first line of action in the Department of Optometry University of Benin. A descriptive cross-sectional questionnaire based study was carried out in the Department of Optometry, University of Benin, Benin City. The questionnaires were self-administered to the respondents. A total of 200 students were used for this study comprising of 100 students from each group. Participants were aged from 16 to 35 with a mean age of 22.16±4.12. 92 were females and 108 males. There was an overall positive response on knowledge of ocular emergency across the clinical and non-clinical students (66.67%). However, there was a significant difference in the responses between both groups on knowledge of ocular emergency (p<0.05). Both groups agreed that cement, insecticides/herbicides, izal, kerosene and bleaching agents can induce ocular emergency. In terms of acids and alkaline burns, both groups disagreed on neutralizing with antagonistic chemical. There was a good knowledge of ocular emergency between clinical and non-clinical students however the clinical students were better informed. Clinical students were better informed that alkaline burns were more dangerous than acid burns. On reactions, both showed good reaction to ocular emergency, however the non-clinical students were not that informed on the recommended time of irrigation.