Browsing by Author "Dr. Saif Hassan Alrasheed"

Filter results by typing the first few letters
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The effect of prolonged and chronic occupational exposure to lead (pb) poisonous metal on the anterior segments of the eye
    (2019-03) Islam Taj Elsir Ahmed; Dr. Saif Hassan Alrasheed
    Background: lead is a naturally occurring toxic metal found in the earth’s crust. Its widespread use has resulted in extensive environmental contamination, human exposure and significant public health problems in many parts of the world. Aim: This study aimed to assess the effect of prolonged occupational lead exposure on the outer eye among workers of military industrial factory as well as to assess the knowledge and practice of the workers towards lead exposure and hazards of lead poisoning. Materials and Methods: This is a comparative cross-sectional study of 100 workers all of them were males selected randomly from the lead-factory, their ages ranged from 21 to 67years with a mean age of 39.1 ± 10.3years. They were divided into two groups according to their duration of work (duration of exposure) group of short duration and group of long duration. Results: The finding revealed that 8% of workers of long duration had V.A less than 6/12 after best correction in place compared to 1% among workers of short duration. About 66% of long duration group presented with symptoms of irritated eye (foreign body sensation and tearing, itching and burning sensation and periodic redness) compared to 18% among group of short duration. The majority 83% of workers in group of long duration had (Pterygium and allergic conjunctivitis) compared only to 25% among group of short duration. The media examination showed that 16% of long duration workers had (cataract and corneal opacity), while surprisingly none of workers in group of short duration had any of those media abnormalities. With regard to knowledge of the workers about the effect of the lead poison on the eye only 30% of respondents were knew that the lead poison had effect on ocular health therefore the most of them not use the protection tools Conclusion: Chronic occupational lead exposure have a great effects on vision and eye health of the workers, its lead to reduce vision as result of development of amblyopia, it also had affect on the ocular media as well as causes severe allergic reaction. Thus, all the workers in this field should wear the protection tools that provided in the factory and there is critical need for examining their ocular heath annually. Key words: lead metal (pb), lead poisoning, military industry, anterior segments of the eye.