مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - Gunpowder injury to the cornea and the lens

Abstract :

To report a case of gunpowder injury to left eye with both superficial and deep seated corneal-conjonctival multiple gunpowder particles. A 30-year-old noncommicent officer injured by the explosion of a heavy machine gun loaded with a big caliber bullet during the battle training. He suffered from the multiple particles of nonactivated gunpowder to his face and left eye. His visions were 20/20 in the right eye and 20/32 in the left eye with Snellen visual acuity chart. Multiple gunpowder particles and tattooing of skin were seen in the left periorbital region. Slit lamp examination revealed mild subconjunctival hemorrhage, mild conjunctival chemosis, multiple black sphere shaped gunpowder particles embedded in the lid margins, conjunctiva and corneal epithelium of left eye. At the central cornea there was a closed perforation and a paracentral crystalline lens perforation. The slit lamp examination also revealed an intralenticular foreign body. Multiple subconjunctival and superficial corneal gunpowder particles were removed using a 28-gauge needle. Deep stromal particles were left in their place, as there was a high risk of corneal perforation. There was no cataract formation in the lens. At the end of the sixth month, a few subconjunctival particles, a few deep stromal particles and an intralenticular particle in the left eye remained without any inflammatory reaction and cataract formation