Evaluation of applicants unable to perform military service due to eye disease in terms of disease etiology and preventability: A cross-sectional study.

Purpose: Our study's goal was to investigate the individuals who took a pre-military examination and were pronounced "unfit for military service," in terms of etiological grouping, legal blindness, and whether or not the illness could have been prevented. Methods: The files of 174 individuals deemed "unfit for military service" due to eye disease at the State Hospital Ophthalmology Department between January 2018 and January 2022 were retrospectively evaluated. The disorders were classified as refractive error, strabismus, amblyopia-related, congenital, hereditary, infectious/inflammatory, degenerative, and trauma-related pathologies. The reasons for unsuitability for military service were classified according to monocular and binocular legal blindness, preventability, and treatability with early diagnosis. Results: In our study, the reasons associated with refractive error, strabismus, and amblyopia were placed first in the etiology of unsuitability for military service (40.2%). The next most prevalent condition was trauma (19.5%), which was followed by degenerative (18.4%), congenital (10.9%), hereditary (6.9%), and infectious/inflammatory disorders (4.0%). There was a history of penetrating trauma in 79.4% of trauma patients and blunt trauma in 20.6% of patients. When the etiology was evaluated, 19.5% were in preventable and 51.2% were in treatable group with early diagnosis. In our study, legal blindness was detected in 116 patients. Of these patients, 79% had monocular legal blindness and 21% had binocular legal blindness. Conclusion: It is vital to investigate the etiology of visual disorders, control preventable causes, and determine the methods that will provide early diagnosis and treatment of curable causes.

Examination of retinal vascular density changes via optical coherence tomography angiography in patients with glaucoma.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate the changes in vessel density (VD) in glaucoma patients and to investigate the relationship between VD and structural parameters using optical coherence tomography angiography. METHODS: Our study included 25 primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) patients, 25 pseudoexfoliation glaucoma (PXG) patients and 25 healthy individuals. All patients underwent 6 × 6 mm retinal angiography (upper limit: internal limitan membrane [ILM], lower limit: 10 µm inferior to inner plexiform layer) and 4.5 × 4.5 mm disk angiography (upper limit: ILM, lower limit: posterior border of the retinal nerve fiber layer [RNFL]) via an optical coherence tomography (OCT) system (AngioVue, Optovue). Measures of vascular density were as follows: total area VD (tVD), intrapapillary VD (iVD), peripapillary VD (pVD) and parafoveal VD (pfVD). In addition to performing comparisons, the correlations between pVD, retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness and optic nerve head measurement results were investigated. RESULTS: A total of 75 individuals were included in our study. In the POAG and PXG groups, tVD and pVD values were significantly lower than the control group (median tVDs were: 45.4, 45.9, 50.0, and median pVDs were: 50.0, 50.3, 53.1, respectively) (confidence intervals were: - 9.8/- 1.1 for pVD and - 8.6/- 1.4 for tVD). Significantly lower pf-VD values were detected in the PXG group compared to the control group (p < 0.05). There were strong positive correlations between RNFL thickness and pVD in in glaucoma groups (p < 0.001). There was no correlation between pVD and disk area, intraocular pressure and age in glaucoma patients. Patients using beta-blockers had significantly lower tVD and pVD values compared to those who did not (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The low VD values in glaucomatous eyes and the strong correlations between that values and RNFL thickness demonstrate a relationship between structural parameters and vascular parameters.