Background: Vitriolage is an aggressive criminal act that results in different degrees of burn injuries and serious health consequences. Vitriolage has been known as a popular method of assault in some developing countries. To our knowledge, this is the first study in Egypt to study the medicolegal aspects of vitriolage crime.
Purpose: The current study was designed to study the pattern of vitriolage injuries and to evaluate the permanent infirmity of vitriolage reported cases in Egypt.
Subjects and methods: All cases of acid burn medicolegal reports throughout three years from 2015 to 2017 were included. 31 victims were studied as regards the demographic, medico-legal data and permanent infirmity assessment done on the victims.
Results: The male: female ratio of caustic burn victims was 1:2.9. Females were being assaulted at a higher rate than males. Most of the victims were young working women aged 20-30 years old and most of them lived in urban areas. Regarding the gender of the offenders, 23 were males and 6 were females. Almost 90.3% of the offenders were known to their victims. Most attacks occurred in public 22 cases (70.9%). Revenge was the most mentioned motive for assault (58.1%, n = 18). Ocular damage and dermal disfigurement were the most frequent injuries.
Conclusion: Ensuring efficient implementation of multilevel policies is required to help survivors attain medical, psychological and community support. Legal socio-cultural reform with permanent infirmity evaluation modification is recommended to combat vitriolage.
Keywords: Acid burn; Caustic; Chemical burn; Disfigurement; Vitriolage.
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