title: Ocular injuries from improvised explosive devices.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To document the characteristics, treatments, and anatomical and functional outcomes of patients with ocular trauma from improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective review of ocular injuries caused by IEDs, admitted to our tertiary referral centre.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In total, sixty-one eyes of the 39 patients with an average age of 24 years (range, 20-42 years) were included in the study. In total, 49 (80%) eyes of the patients had open-globe and 12 (20%) had closed-globe injury. In eyes with open-globe injury, intraocular foreign body (IOFB) injury was the most frequently encountered type of injury, observed in 76% of eyes. Evisceration or enucleation was required as a primary surgical intervention in 17 (28%) of the eyes. Twenty-two (36%) eyes had no light perception at presentation. Patients were followed up for an average of 6 months (range, 4-34 months). At the last follow-up, 26 (43%) of 61 eyes had no light perception. Postoperative proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) developed in 12 (50%) of the 24 eyes that underwent vitreoretinal surgery, and four of these eyes became phthisical. There were no cases of endophthalmitis. The presence of open-globe injury and presenting visual acuity worse than 5/200 were significantly associated with poor visual outcome (<5/200, P<0.05). In eyes with open-globe injury, the presence of an IOFB was not associated with poor visual outcome (P>0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Ocular injuries from IEDs are highly associated with severe ocular damage requiring extensive surgical repair or evisceration/enucleation. Postoperative PVR is a common cause of poor anatomical and visual outcome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Gulhane Military Medical Academy and School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey. erdurman@yahoo.com
authors.forename: F C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Erdurman
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Hurmeric
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gokce
authors.forename: A H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Durukan
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sobaci
authors.forename: H I
authors.initials: HI
authors.lastname: Altinsoy
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001753:Blast Injuries / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D005107:Explosions; D005129:Eye Foreign Bodies / Q000209:etiology; D005131:Eye Injuries / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000209:etiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology; D018630:Vitreoretinopathy, Proliferative / Q000209:etiology; D055815:Young Adult