Question:medium
A tennis player gets hit by a ball on the eye, following which he complains of decreased vision. Which of the following suggests that the injury is due to trauma?
A tennis player gets hit by a ball on the eye, following which he complains of decreased vision. Which of the following suggests that the injury is due to trauma?
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Blunt impact tears the strongest vitreoretinal adhesion, so a detached vitreous base signals trauma.
Updated On: Jun 24, 2026
- Optic neuritis
- Pars planitis
- Vitreous base detachment
- Equatorial edema
Show Solution
The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
Frame the physics of the impact. When a ball hits the eye, the globe is squashed front-to-back and bulges out at its equator in the same instant. That rapid deformation generates strong traction exactly where the vitreous gel is most tightly glued to the eye wall, the vitreous base near the ora serrata.
Because that adhesion is one of the strongest vitreoretinal attachments, it does not give way to inflammation or to slow disease; it tears only when a sudden mechanical force pulls on it. So when you see the vitreous base detached or avulsed, it is a near-specific footprint of blunt trauma, which is precisely the scenario described.
Now dismiss the inflammatory distractors. Optic neuritis is inflammation or demyelination of the optic nerve. Pars planitis is intermediate uveitis, again an inflammatory process. Equatorial edema is a vague, non-diagnostic finding. None of these is created by a mechanical blow, whereas vitreous base detachment is. Hence the trauma marker is vitreous base detachment.
\[\boxed{\text{Vitreous base detachment}}\]
Because that adhesion is one of the strongest vitreoretinal attachments, it does not give way to inflammation or to slow disease; it tears only when a sudden mechanical force pulls on it. So when you see the vitreous base detached or avulsed, it is a near-specific footprint of blunt trauma, which is precisely the scenario described.
Now dismiss the inflammatory distractors. Optic neuritis is inflammation or demyelination of the optic nerve. Pars planitis is intermediate uveitis, again an inflammatory process. Equatorial edema is a vague, non-diagnostic finding. None of these is created by a mechanical blow, whereas vitreous base detachment is. Hence the trauma marker is vitreous base detachment.
\[\boxed{\text{Vitreous base detachment}}\]
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