review article: ocular effects of sulfur mustard

purpose : to review current knowledge about ocular effects of sulfur mustard (sm) and the associated histopathologic findings and clinical manifestations methods : literature review of medical articles (human and animal studies) was accomplished using pubmed, scopus and isi databases. a total of 274 relevant articles in english were retrieved and reviewed thoroughly. results : eyes are the most sensitive organs to local toxic effects of mustard gas. ocular injuries are mediated through different toxic mechanisms including: biochemical damages, biomolecular and gene expression modification, induction of immunologic and inflammatory reactions, disturbing ultrastructural architecture of the cornea, and long-lasting corneal denervation. the resulting ocular injuries can roughly be categorized into acute or chronic complications. most of the patients recover from acute injuries, but a minority of victims will suffer from chronic ocular complications. mustard gas keratopathy (mgk) is a devastating late complication of sm intoxication that proceeds from limbal stem cell deficiency (lscd). conclusion : sm induces several different damaging changes in case of ocular exposure hence leading to a broad spectrum of ocular manifestations in terms of severity, timing and form. unfortunately, no effective strategy has been introduced yet to inhibit or restore these damaging changes.   iranian journal of ophthalmology 201325(2):90-106 © 2013 by the iranian society of ophthalmology