Ocular injuries caused by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are strongly associated with severe ocular damage repaired by evisceration or enucleation, states an investigation published in 

, Department of Ophthalmology, Gulhane Military Medical Academy and School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey, conducted a retrospective review of 61 eyes of 39 patients who had suffered from ocular injuries caused by IEDs. The average patient age was 24 years and the average follow-up was 6 months. Of the patients studied, 49 eyes had open-globe injuries and 12 eyes had closed-globe injuries.

The results showed that eyes with open-globe injury experienced a higher rate of intraocular foreign body (IOFB) injury with 76% of eyes presenting with it. Evisceration or enucleation as a primary surgical intervention was needed in 28% of eyes and 36% of eyes presented with no light perception.

At the final follow-up 43% of eyes demonstrated no light perception. In eyes that underwent vitreoretinal surgery 50% of them developed postoperative proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR). Postoperative PVR was identified as the most frequent cause of poor visual outcome.

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Ocular injuries caused by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are strongly associated with severe ocular damage repaired by evisceration or enucleation.