long-term complications of enucleated or severely traumatized eyes in war veterans

purpose: to evaluate anophthalmic socket complications and the incidence of sympathetic ophthalmia among individuals who had undergone primary enucleation or severe ocular trauma during the war between iran and iraq. methods: all monocular veterans of the mentioned war in khorasan province, iran were recalled during a 7-month period. preliminary data including age at the time of injury, occupation, previous operations and ocular symptoms were evaluated and all participants underwent a complete ophthalmologic examination particularly regarding the anophthalmic socket, orbital implant and prosthesis condition. results: overall, 135 male individuals participated in this study. mean age was 42±7 years and 86% were 30-50 years. patients had undergone complete enucleation in 39 (28.9%), partial enucleation in 21 (15.6%) and evisceration in 6 (4.4%) cases. in 34 cases (25.2%) pthisis bulbi had occurred after trauma and the type of surgery was not identifiable in the remaining 35 cases (25.9%). the most common symptom in injured eyes was mucoid or mucopurulent discharge (71%). common complications in 101 subjects with previous operations were superior sulcus deformity (72.3%) and socket contracture (44.5%). socket motility was satisfactory only in 18%. conclusion: all signs of the anophthalmic syndrome are more severe and more prevalent among enucleated cases secondary to war injuries. due to the rarity of sympathetic ophthalmia, we suggest enucleation and orbital implantation in an elective setting.