Skip to main content

Advertising Disclaimer »

Main menu

  • Journals
    • Pediatrics
    • Hospital Pediatrics
    • Pediatrics in Review
    • NeoReviews
    • AAP Grand Rounds
    • AAP News
  • Authors/Reviewers
    • Submit Manuscript
    • Author Guidelines
    • Reviewer Guidelines
    • Open Access
    • Editorial Policies
  • Content
    • Current Issue
    • Online First
    • Archive
    • Blogs
    • Topic/Program Collections
    • AAP Meeting Abstracts
  • Pediatric Collections
    • COVID-19
    • Racism and Its Effects on Pediatric Health
    • More Collections...
  • AAP Policy
  • Supplements
    • Supplements
    • Publish Supplement
  • Multimedia
    • Video Abstracts
    • Pediatrics On Call Podcast
  • Subscribe
  • Alerts
  • Careers
  • Other Publications
    • American Academy of Pediatrics

User menu

  • Log in
  • My Cart

Search

  • Advanced search
American Academy of Pediatrics

AAP Gateway

Advanced Search

AAP Logo

  • Log in
  • My Cart
  • Journals
    • Pediatrics
    • Hospital Pediatrics
    • Pediatrics in Review
    • NeoReviews
    • AAP Grand Rounds
    • AAP News
  • Authors/Reviewers
    • Submit Manuscript
    • Author Guidelines
    • Reviewer Guidelines
    • Open Access
    • Editorial Policies
  • Content
    • Current Issue
    • Online First
    • Archive
    • Blogs
    • Topic/Program Collections
    • AAP Meeting Abstracts
  • Pediatric Collections
    • COVID-19
    • Racism and Its Effects on Pediatric Health
    • More Collections...
  • AAP Policy
  • Supplements
    • Supplements
    • Publish Supplement
  • Multimedia
    • Video Abstracts
    • Pediatrics On Call Podcast
  • Subscribe
  • Alerts
  • Careers

Discover Pediatric Collections on COVID-19 and Racism and Its Effects on Pediatric Health

American Academy of Pediatrics
Article

Corneal Abrasions in Young Infants

Timothy R. Shope, Thomas S. Rieg and Nazima N. Kathiria
Pediatrics March 2010, 125 (3) e565-e569; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2008-2023
Timothy R. Shope
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Thomas S. Rieg
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Nazima N. Kathiria
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • Comments
Loading

This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.

Download PDF

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: We sought to determine the prevalence of corneal abrasions and possible associations with fingernail length, demographic information, sleeping, and crying among young infants.

METHODS: Parents of 1- to 12-week-old infants without symptoms who were presenting for well-child visits completed a brief questionnaire on age, gender, race, fingernail-trimming practices, and sleeping and crying in the preceding 24-hour period. Fingernail length was measured, and eyes were examined through staining with fluorescein and illumination/magnification with a Bluminator (Eidolon Optical, Natick, MA). Patients with corneal abrasions were given orally administered acetaminophen and erythromycin ointment. Masked interrater reliability for abrasions was measured. Logistic regression analyses determined the association of corneal abrasions with potential covariates.

RESULTS: Ninety-six subjects were enrolled, including 47 girls (49%), with a mean age of 32.2 days (SD: 21.7 days). Forty-seven infants (49%) had abrasions. Demographic variables and mean crying times (114.8 ± 124.9 vs 86.5 ± 111.7 minutes; P < .24) were not significantly different for infants with and without abrasions. Infants with abrasions slept more (15.9 ± 3.3 vs 14.5 ± 3.6 hours; P = .054). Associations of fingernail-trimming method and fingernail length with corneal abrasions were not statistically significant. Masked interrater reliability was high, with agreement between the primary investigator and the associate investigator for 20 (91%) of 22 eyes and agreement between the primary investigator and a pediatric ophthalmologist for 9 (90%) of 10 eyes.

CONCLUSIONS: Corneal abrasions are extremely common among 1- to 12-week-old infants and have unclear clinical significance. Primary care physicians should be careful about attributing unexplained persistent crying to corneal abrasions, potentially missing a more-serious problem.

  • corneal abrasion
  • infant crying
  • fluorescein eye examination
  • Accepted September 28, 2009.
  • Copyright © 2010 by the American Academy of Pediatrics

Individual Login

Log in
You will be redirected to aap.org to login or to create your account.

Institutional Login

via Institution

You may be able to gain access using your login credentials for your institution. Contact your librarian or administrator if you do not have a username and password.

Log in through your institution

If your organization uses OpenAthens, you can log in using your OpenAthens username and password. To check if your institution is supported, please see this list. Contact your library for more details.

Purchase access

You may purchase access to this article. This will require you to create an account if you don't already have one.

Offer Reprints

PreviousNext
Back to top

Advertising Disclaimer »

In this issue

Pediatrics
Vol. 125, Issue 3
1 Mar 2010
  • Table of Contents
  • Index by author
View this article with LENS
PreviousNext
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on American Academy of Pediatrics.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Corneal Abrasions in Young Infants
(Your Name) has sent you a message from American Academy of Pediatrics
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the American Academy of Pediatrics web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Request Permissions
Article Alerts
Log in
You will be redirected to aap.org to login or to create your account.
Or Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Citation Tools
Corneal Abrasions in Young Infants
Timothy R. Shope, Thomas S. Rieg, Nazima N. Kathiria
Pediatrics Mar 2010, 125 (3) e565-e569; DOI: 10.1542/peds.2008-2023

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Share
Corneal Abrasions in Young Infants
Timothy R. Shope, Thomas S. Rieg, Nazima N. Kathiria
Pediatrics Mar 2010, 125 (3) e565-e569; DOI: 10.1542/peds.2008-2023
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
Print
Download PDF
Insight Alerts
  • Table of Contents

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Abstract
    • METHODS
    • RESULTS
    • DISCUSSION
    • ACKNOWLEDGMENT
    • Footnotes
    • REFERENCES
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • Comments

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • Prospective study of the sensitivity of the Woods lamp for common eye abnormalities
  • Topical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for corneal abrasions in children
  • Corneal Abrasions
  • Corneal abrasions may not be cause of unexplained crying in infants
  • Corneal Abrasions in Crying Infants: A Red Herring?
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Health Outcomes in Young Children Following Pertussis Vaccination During Pregnancy
  • Rural-Urban Differences in Changes and Effects of Tobacco 21 in Youth E-cigarette Use
  • Neonatal SARS-CoV-2 Infections in Breastfeeding Mothers
Show more 6

Similar Articles

Subjects

  • Ophthalmology
    • Ophthalmology
  • Fetus/Newborn Infant
    • Fetus/Newborn Infant
  • Journal Info
  • Editorial Board
  • Editorial Policies
  • Overview
  • Licensing Information
  • Authors/Reviewers
  • Author Guidelines
  • Submit My Manuscript
  • Open Access
  • Reviewer Guidelines
  • Librarians
  • Institutional Subscriptions
  • Usage Stats
  • Support
  • Contact Us
  • Subscribe
  • Resources
  • Media Kit
  • About
  • International Access
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Statement
  • FAQ
  • AAP.org
  • shopAAP
  • Follow American Academy of Pediatrics on Instagram
  • Visit American Academy of Pediatrics on Facebook
  • Follow American Academy of Pediatrics on Twitter
  • Follow American Academy of Pediatrics on Youtube
  • RSS
American Academy of Pediatrics

© 2021 American Academy of Pediatrics