["Blessing Lies in What Is Hidden from the Eye": An Unusual Ocular Injury During an Ordinary Activity]

Ocular injuries in combat or field environments, particularly those resulting from shrapnel or blast mechanisms, frequently cause penetrating globe trauma. These injuries pose an immediate and severe threat to ocular integrity and commonly result in significant visual impairment, including blindness or loss of the globe itself. The primary challenge in these scenarios is prompt identification of globe perforation through clinical assessment and imaging, followed by urgent surgical intervention. We report the case of a male patient in his twenties who was urgently referred to our center with suspected scleral perforation of the right eye. Such injuries typically involve intraocular or intraorbital foreign bodies and necessitate emergency surgery under general anesthesia, encompassing wound exploration, foreign body removal, and globe repair. This injury occurred due to an unexpected explosion of a rifle bullet buried beneath a cooking fire ("poike"). High-energy injuries of this nature usually carry a poor prognosis regarding vision and globe preservation. Remarkably, in this case, meticulous clinical examination, precise imaging and appropriate surgical technique, allowed successful management through a relatively minor procedure under local anesthesia. The patient made a full recovery without lasting ocular damage.