Military ophthalmology in the Vietnam War

Abstract

This overview of the practice of military ophthalmology by US army ophthalmologists during the Vietnam War focuses on administrative management of eye and adnexal injuries, care of the wounded military and of Vietnamese civilians, and research activities. It concludes with improvements that have been subsequently adopted.

Incidence and severity of ocular and adnexal injuries during the Second Lebanon War among Israeli soldiers and civilians

“…Among our patients, despite the high rate of all ocular injuries, the rate of primary enucleations was 5.8% (four cases). This again is consistent with previous reports of a decreasing rate of eye removal: 20% during the war in Vietnam [20], fewer than 15% in the 1982 war in the Middle East [2], 18% during Operation Desert Storm [21], and fewer than 13% in the present conflict in Iraq [10].…”

Open Globe Eye Injuries from Syrian Civil War

“…According to the previously reported studies, there was a decreasing rate of enucleation/evisceration: 20% in the Vietnam War, 18% in the Operation Desert Storm, and less than 13% in the conflict in Iraq. [22][23][24] Consistent with the recent studies the rate of primary eviscerations was 9.3% in our study. 7,16 There are several limitations of this study.…”

Combat ocular trauma and systemic injury

“…With these adaptations in military tactics, injury patterns sustained by combatants have also changed. For example, the incidence of ocular injuries has increased during combat from 0.65% of all injuries during the Crimean war of 1854-1856 to 13% during Operation Desert Storm in 1991 [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. Multiple explanations have been proposed for these changes, including the use of explosive fragmentation from artillery and aircraft rather than low-velocity projectiles shot from muzzle-loading rifles.…”