From the Orlando Sentinel:

An increasing number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are losing their eyesight not because of bullet or bomb wounds but in what doctors suspect is a delayed reaction to the constant pounding of nearby explosives.

Studies conducted by the military have estimated that up to 20 percent of the 1.7 million troops who have served and returned from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from mild traumatic brain injury, most often as a result of roadside bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars.

Bill Wilson, a blindness-rehabilitation specialist at the Orlando VA Medical Center, sees a coming wave of woe. “We won’t know for months,” he said. “We can see the individuals and they may be perfectly fine, and then down the line they have problems.”

… Preliminary results from a pilot study suggested that as many as 70 percent of severely wounded soldiers treated for traumatic brain injuries also complain of double vision, difficulties in reading, blindness and other vision problems.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 5th, 2008 at 4:18 am and is filed under blindness, brain damage, veterans, visual impairments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post