ABSTRACT
The eye globe, being a soft tissue structure, is vulnerable to devastating damage by chemical and physical trauma. The latter may take the form of blunt or perforating injury. However, eye protection is significant in that each globe is protected on five aspects by the walls of the bony eye socket or orbit, and on its frontal aspect to a much lesser extent by the substance of the eyelids which contain the semi-rigid tarsal plate. The action of blinking means that the front of the eye only has intermittent protection consistent with its function to provide vision. Serious trauma to the eye socket may well compromise the survival of the eye globe and its delicate nerve support.
