The 362 industrial eye injuries among the 14374 out-patient who visited to Dept. of Ophthalmology, Wonju Christian Hospital, Yonsei University, College of Medicine from Jan. 1975 to Dec. 1980 were statistically evaluated. 1. Industrial eye injuries occupied 2.52% of all eye injuries. 2. The majority of industrial eye injuries was due to flying particles including dust and stones(28.04%), explosives(24.66%) which resulted in corneal foreign bodies(10.27%). 3. The final visual acuity of 82 eyes(21.98%) was 20/400 or less. And 36 eyes(9.65%) were absolutIy blinded. 4. The trade-distribution of industrial eye injuries was as follows; Stope mm(36.82%), Assistant(11.15%), Miscellaneous service (7.09%), 38.53% of industrial eye injuries of Stope men was injured by explosives.
Diptera ; Dust ; Explosive Agents ; Eye Injuries* ; Gangwon-do ; Humans ; Male ; Ophthalmology ; Outpatients ; Visual Acuity

The incidence of death due to firearms and explosives is extremely low in Korea. Forensic pathologists are rarely experienced this kind of injuries by autopsy in Korea. It is important for them to realize characteristics of gunshot wounds and explosive injuries. Firearm and explosive injuries exhibit different characteristics under different settings, and one can utilize these characteristics in reconstructing the scene in actual cases. The author summarized basic mechanisms and general features of gunshot wounds and explosive injuries. Deaths due to hand grenade were especially presented with statistical data in Korean Army.
Abdominal Injuries* ; Autopsy ; Explosive Agents* ; Firearms* ; Hand ; Incidence ; Korea ; Wounds, Gunshot

Penetrating cerebral injuries caused by foreign bodies are rare in civilian neurosurgical trauma, although there are various reports of blast or gunshot injuries in warfare due to multiple foreign bodies like pellets and nails. In our case, a 30-year-old man presented to neurosurgery clinic with signs and symptoms of right-sided weakness after suicide bomb attack. The skull X-ray showed a single intracranial nail. Small craniotomy was done and the nail was removed with caution to avoid injury to surrounding normal brain tissue. At 6 months'follow-up his right-sided power improved to against gravity.
Adult ; Explosive Agents ; Head Injuries, Penetrating ; surgery ; Humans ; Male ; Skull ; injuries ; Suicide

PURPOSE: The Iri station explosion that occurred in 1977 was a major social disaster in Korea, caused by a fire in a train equipped with explosives. The purpose of this study was to investigate the social disaster adaptation experiences of railroad workers. METHODS: This study was based on qualitative research using phenomenological methodology. Participants were six railroad workers who experienced the Iri station explosion. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with individual workers from March to June, 2018. The data analysis method was based on Colaizzi's approach. RESULTS: Experiences of railroad workers were categorized into 12 themes and the following 6 theme clusters: (1) Anxiety due to the extreme vibration and crash, (2) Terror regarding the horrible situation that one cannot face, (3) Anger about the cause of the explosion and a sense of relief about survival, (4) Confusion regarding different rumors, (5) Various efforts to return to daily life, and (6) Trauma that continues to exist. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study recommend that railroad organizations and managers should pay attention to enhance disaster preparedness and develop organizational disaster coping guidelines for members. The results of this study can help us to better understand the various aspects of the Iri station explosion of 1977.
Anger ; Anxiety ; Disasters ; Explosions ; Explosive Agents ; Fires ; Korea ; Methods ; Qualitative Research ; Railroads ; Statistics as Topic ; Vibration

This report is based on a statistical analysis of the records of 116 cases of perforating eye injuries among 39,721 patients who visited the eye department of the National Medical Center from 1971 to 1981. The results were as follows: 1. The incidence of perforating eye injuries was 0.3% of 39,721 patients and 8.7% of the ocular trauma. 2. Of patients with perforating eye injuries, 76.7% were male and 23.3% female. Perforated injuries peaked in the age group 10-19 years, with about 50% of the perforations incurred by patients in the age group 10-29 years. 3. Of perforating eye injuries, 51.7% were found in the right eye, whereas 43.1% were in the left eye. 5.2% had injuries in both eyes. 4. The corneal perforations were 60.3% of the injuries, while the scleral were 25%, and the corneoscleral 14.7%. 5. Of perforating injuries, 16.4% were caused by intraocular foreign bodies, 78.9% of which were magnetic 89.5% of the patients were males. 6. Of perforating eye injuries, 32.8% occurred in the fall and 13.8% in September. 7. The most common material(23.3%) which caused perforating injuries was metal or iron particles. 15.5% of perforating injuries were caused by broken glass, 9.5% by explosives, and 7.8% by wood splinters. 8. Associated ocular manifestations were as follows: subconjunctival hemorrhage 42.2%, prolapse of uveal tissue 37.9%, conjunctival laceration 29.3%, traumatic hyphema 27.6%, tra umatic cataract 25.9% and traumatic uveitis 17.2%. 9. Of perforating eye injuries, 57.4% were treated by surgical procedure, such as primary closure, iridectomy, replacement of the prolapsed iris, lens extraction and removal of intraocular foreign bodies. In 13.9% of injured eyes removal of the eye-ball was performed. 10. Only 19.8% of the injuries were restored to 0.6 or better and 64.0% to 0.1 or less. 11. The location of the perforation was not correlated with visual prognosis. Relatively good vision was restored in scleral perforation cases, while corneal perforations resulted in the worst vision(statistically not significant). 12. The restored visual acuity was better in occupational injuries than in nonoccupational ones(statistically not significant). 13. Better results were obtained in the cases involving magnetic intraocular foreign bodies than in those with non-magnetic ones(statistically not significant). 14. The more complications occurred, the worse vision became. 15. The cases(38) of restoration of visual acuity considered to be poor(< or =0.1) breakdown as fo llows(by cause): phthisis bulbi(18.6%), traumatic cataract(10.5%), corneal opacity(81.0%), and vitreous opacity(3.5%).
Cataract ; Corneal Perforation ; Explosive Agents ; Eye Injuries* ; Female ; Foreign Bodies ; Glass ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Hyphema ; Incidence ; Iridectomy ; Iris ; Iron ; Lacerations ; Male ; Occupational Injuries ; Prognosis ; Prolapse ; Uveitis ; Visual Acuity ; Wood