Severe Emotional Response to Eye Trauma in a Child: Awareness and Intervention

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is most often associated with Vietnam veterans. However, PTSD can result from any psychologically distressing event outside the range of usual human experience, including eye trauma in children. Presented is the case of a young boy who suffered a penetrating injury to the right globe. Both he and his father experienced significant intrusive thoughts and avoidance consistent with PTSD. Patients and their families would benefit from ophthalmologists who explain the potential for psychologic sequlae of surgical intervention and provide consultation for the treatment of such symptoms.

Report of a Case.  —A 4-year-old boy incurred trauma to his right eye by walking into a wall peg in a local movie rental store. His father applied pressure to decrease the bleeding, but found that contents of his son's right globe were now in his hand. An emergency surgery was performed to repair the ruptured globe. As a result