PURPOSE:
To establish the aetiology and visual outcome after penetratingeye injures in rural environments.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:
The records of 182 patients (184 eyes) withpenetrating eye injuries treated in the 1 st Eye Hospital, Lublin, Poland, between 1994 and 2002, werereviewed. Twenty eight of the 184 eyes (15.6 %) were work-related agriculture penetrating eye injuries.Distribution by age, sex, season variation, cause of injury, place of entrance wound, visual acuity andlate complications were estimated.

RESULTS:
Of the group of 28 patients, 24 (85.7%) were male and 4(14.3%) female, with the age range between 11-76 (mean 48.2) years. Most injuries were a result of repairand maintenance work in 35.7%, wood chopping in 25 %, machine use in 17.9%, simple instruments usein 10.7%, fall from one level to another in 7.1%, and cow butting with a horn in 3.6 %. Eighteen eyes (64%) were blind with visual acuity less than 0.05 at their most recent review.

CONCLUSIONS:
Our studyhas shown that perforating ocular injuries in rural environment are still a big therapeutic, social andeconomic problem.