ABSTRACT

Purpose:

The aim of this study is to determine the ophthalmic causes and quantities of being inconvenient for military service among young men who were examined at the final physical examination for military service.

Method:

The young patients (n=1857) who were sent to Gülhane Military Medical Academy Department of Ophthalmology between February 1997 and June 2004 to be evaluated for the military service because of low vision and given the decision of "inconvenient the military service" were included to the study. The records of the patients were examined retrospectively. The diagnoses of the patients were divided into 6 groups as refractive errors, retinal diseases, ocular trauma, anterior segment disease, strabismus, and others.

Results:

The refractive error was the most common cause for being inconvenient for military service (510, 27.46%). The other causes were retinal diseases (487, 26.23%), ocular trauma (419, 22.56%), anterior segment diseases (232, 12.49%), strabismus (124, 6.68%), and the others (85, 4.58%) respectively.

Conclusion:

The cases of this study were only the young patients. Thus, the causes of visual impairment were found different from the old patients. We found that amblyopia caused by refractive errors and strabismus was very common among young adults in Turkey. This emphasizes the importance of ophthalmic screenings. With this screenings, most of these cases can be diagnosed and treated at early stage.