Pak J Med Sci 2008 Vol. 24 No. 5 www.pjms.com.pk 673 Original Article DETERMINATION OF VISUAL STATUS OF IRANIAN VETERANS 17-25 YEARS AFTER INJURY Mohammad Ghassemi-Broumand 1 , Zohreh Amiri 2 ABSTRACT Objective: To investigate the current visual status of Iranian veterans. Methodology: Eight hundred veterans, with a history of penetrating ocular injuries were examined 17-25 years after inj ury during Iraq - Iran war. Their age, gender, the inj ured eye, the ocular components involved and their final visual acuity were recorded. Result s: Ninety nine percent of there veterans were male and 58.1% were in the age of 31-40 years. The left eye was involved in 39.4%, the right in 34.4% and 26.2% had bilaterally eye involvement. The cornea was the most commonly involved component (23.4%) and optic nerve the least (1%). The results showed 33.5%were enucleated. Conclusion: Ocular penetrating inj uries can lead to devastating visual outcomes of blindness. Prompt management of these injuries by adequately trained surgeons can lead to better outcomes. As a preventive measure, the use of eye protectives is also recommended. KEY WORDS: Penetrating eye trauma, Visual acuity, Warfare patients. Pak J Med Sci October - December 2008 (Part-I) Vol. 24 No. 5 673-677 How to cite this article: Ghassemi-Broumand M, Amiri Z. Determination of visual status of Iranian veterans 17-25 years after inj ury. Pak J Med Sci 2008;24(5):673-77. 1. Mohammad Ghassemi-Broumand, MD, Associate Professor, 2. Zohreh Amiri, PhD, Assistant Professor, 1-2: Shahid Beheshti University (M.C), Damavand Ave, Tehran – Iran. Correspondence Dr. Mohammad Ghassemi-Broumand, Associate Professor, Faculty of Rehabilitation, Shahid Beheshti University (M.C), Damavand Ave, Tehran – Iran. E- mail: m_ghbr_oph@yahoo.com * Received for Publication: November 10, 2007 * Revision Received: July 1, 2008 * Revision Accepted: July 25, 2008 INTRODUCTION During the war between Iraq and Iran, a lot of Iranian soldier’s eyes were injured by bullets and bomb particles. Awareness of these injuries and the visual status of the veterans can help us prioritize our strategies dealing with therapeutic needs and health care service of these patients including the problems they have regarding loss of visual acuity and blindness, etc. Trauma is one of the most common causes of visual loss. 1 Furthermore, 75% of patients experiencing ocular trauma will have at least one blind eye. 1 Despite all efforts to prevent ocular traumas, this is still an important ocu- lar problem. Every year, 2.4 million ocular trau- mas occur in the United States. 2,3 The left eye is more commonly involved than the right one, because majority of the people are right- handed and right-hand punches usually hit the left eye. 3 In developed countries, a variety of organizations and databases have been regis- tered in this regard such as “National Eye Trauma System Registry (NETS)” to collect the data regarding penetrating eye traumas. In 1985, a uniform algorithm was introduced to