آسيبهاي چشمي ناشي از ضرب و جرح

The pattern of assault - related eye injuries in forensic medicine clinic,Farabi hospital, 1381

Background: Assault- related eyeinjuries tend to be more severe than other ocular injuries and create enormous costs to the victim and the society. This study aims to describe the pattern of assault-related ocular injuries in a referral center in Iran. Methods: 114 patients participated in a one-month prospective study of assault-related ocular trauma conducted at a referral outpatient forensic medicine clinic. A questionnaire was filled in for each patient on demographics of patients and assailants, place, time and reason for assault and the type of eye injuries. Results: 84.2% of cases were male with a mean age of 30.89 years. A significant percent of assaults occurred from 4 - 8 PM followed by 8 PM - 12 MN. 93 percent of assailants were male with a mean age of 28.82 years. The majority of assaults had occurred in streets. The most common sites of injuries were lid and conjunctival injuries. The object causing most of the injuries was the fist. Apparently, in half of our cases, the reason of violence had not been familial or even economical. Instead, the assailant had lost oneʹs temper due to some trivial reasons. Conclusion: It is difficult to propose effective strategies to prevent assault-related eye injuries, especially those originating from impulsive behaviours. Education of the community - which has been recently started in Iranian primary schools- for managing their anger in social occasions sounds to be effective.