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Introduction: Our aim was to describe the ocular emergencies that necessitated contact between a patient's primary doctor and the duty ophthalmologist in the county of Viborg, Denmark. Materials and methods: We conducted a retrospective study involving 500 randomised cases of telephone consultations outside ordinary daytime working hours between 1 January 1999 and 31 December 2001. Data concerning patients' age and gender, referral source, tentative diagnosis and further referral were collected. Results: Out of the 500 cases, 248 (49.6%) were traumatic in origin and 252 (50.4%) were non-traumatic. Most referrals concerned the following: acute red eye, 114 (22.8%); blunt injury, 70 (14%); sharp injury, 66 (13.2%); acute loss of vision, 54 (10.8%); chemical injury, 50 (10%); abrasion, 32 (6.4%); and foreign body, 27 (5.4%). 76% of the cases of trauma were in males, while the male-female ratio among non-traumatic cases was 1:1. Traumatic cases occurred more frequently in the age group 15 to 39 years, while non-traumatic cases occurred more frequently between the ages of 55 and 79 years. The referrals came mainly from general practitioners on duty (72%) and emergency rooms (18.6%). 59.4% of the cases were referred for acute investigation after the initial telephone consultation. Discussion: Contact with a duty ophthalmologist by telephone seems to be a suitable way of initially dealing with ophthalmic emergencies.

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