A Retrospective Review of Eye Complications in Patients with Ear, Nose, and Throat Disorders: Patterns of Recognition, Documentation, and Clinical Management

Background Ocular complications are known to be the result of various ENT conditions; the way they are reported and addressed in the discharge records is usually different. This retrospective study on discharge certificates aims to evaluate the trends in the identification of ENT disorders with ocular symptoms and signs, documentation quality, and clinical management done. Methods A total of 175 discharge certificates of patients who were admitted to the ENT department between February 2023 and February 2026 were audited retrospectively. Data gathered through patient demographics, initial ENT diagnosis, nature and degree of ocular complications, documentation completeness, treatment approaches, and follow-up recommendations. Clinically adapted criteria of the widely used classifications were used to categorize eye involvement as mild, moderate, or severe. The descriptive statistics were used to describe the trends and to compare the findings with the available literature. Results Out of 175, 113 (64.57%) were male patients, and 62 (35.43%) were female patients, and the mean age was 37 ± 11.37 years. The most common diagnosis was sinusitis with orbital extension at 84 (48%), and sinonasal tumors or nasopharyngeal tumors at 33 (18.86%) and 25 (14.29%), respectively. Mild cases of the eye involved the highest number of cases at 123 (70.29%), with moderate and severe cases taking 43 (24.57%) and 9 (5.14%), respectively. The rates of documentation were high concerning the identification of ocular findings in 166 (94.86%), the laterality in 170 (97.14%), and the follow-up or referral in 164 (93.71%). Severity grading was, however, recorded in only 38 (21.71%). Most of the management was conducted using medical therapy at 98 (56%), combined medical and surgery at 34 (19.43%), surgery alone at 17 (9.71%), and ophthalmology referral at 26 (14.9%). Conclusions Ocular complications in ENT disorders are relatively common but are not consistently detailed in discharge documentation, particularly with respect to severity. The use of structured discharge formats incorporating severity grading and interdisciplinary input may improve documentation consistency and clinical communication. These findings highlight potential areas for improvement in documentation practices and clinical standards; however, their impact on continuity of care and patient risk assessment was not directly evaluated in this study.