Incidence and Characteristics of Facial and Ophthalmic Injuries From Domestic Mammal Bites

center dot PURPOSE: To determine population-based incidence and characteristics of facial and ophthalmic injuries from domestic mammal bites in Olmsted County, Minnesota. center dot DESIGN: Retrospective, population-based cohort study. center dot METHODS: The Rochester Epidemiology Project (REP) was used to identify all potential cases of facial injuries from domestic mammal bites in Olmsted County, Min-nesota from January 1, 1999, to December 31, 2015. Subjects were categorized into 2 cohorts: the ophthalmic cohort, which included persons with ocular and periocu-lar injuries with or without facial injuries, and the non-ophthalmic cohort, which included persons with facial in-juries only. The incidence and characteristics of facial and ophthalmic injuries from domestic mammal bites were as-sessed. center dot RESULTS: There were 245 patients with facial in-juries, 47 ophthalmic and 198 non-ophthalmic. The over-all age-and sex-adjusted incidence of facial injuries was 9.0 (CI = 7.9-10.1) per 100,000 persons per year, 1.7 (CI = 1.2-2.2) ophthalmic and 7.3 (CI = 6.3-8.3) non-ophthalmic. Rates of facial injuries were highest in pa-tients younger than 5 years and lowest in patients 50 years or older, 49.1 (CI = 41.3-61.6) and 1.3 (CI = 0.7-2.5), respectively ( P < .001). All facial injuries were caused by either dog (92%) or cat (8%) bites. Patients with ophthalmic injuries received more intravenous pro-phylactic antibiotics (18% vs 1%, P < .001), wound clo-sure (83% vs 58%, P < .001), and hospital admission (6% vs 0%, P = .007) than patients with non-ophthalmic injuries. Facial injury complications were infrequent (14, 6%) and included soft tissue infection and prominent scar. center dot CONCLUSIONS: Although domestic mammal bites to the face are quite common, ocular injury occurs in a mi-nority of cases. (Am J Ophthalmol 2023;252: 164-169. (c) 2023 Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Automated summary

This study aimed to determine the population-based incidence and characteristics of facial and ophthalmic injuries from domestic mammal bites in Olmsted County, Minnesota. The overall age- and sex-adjusted incidence of facial injuries was 9.0 per 100,000 persons per year, with ocular injuries accounting for 1.7 cases and non-ophthalmic injuries accounting for 7.3 cases per 100,000 persons per year. The majority of facial injuries were caused by dog bites, and patients with ophthalmic injuries had different treatment approaches and higher hospital admission rates compared to those with non-ophthalmic injuries.