A clinical study of trinitrotoluene cataract.

The results of ophthalmic examination of 413 workers exposed to TNT were analysed. Cataracts were detected in 143 cases (34.6%), reaching 88.4% in those exposed in excess of 20 years. Both prevalence and degree of lenticular damage increased with increasing exposure. The shortest latent period of cataract development was three years and the youngest subject was only 22 years old. The characteristics of TNT lens impairment are: (1) gray-yellow dot opacities, with circular and cuneiform in the peripheral part of the lens detectable with transillumination and slit-lamp; (2) circular, discal or petaline opacities in the central part of the lens; (3) a transparent zone between the circular shadow and the lens equator. While circular opacities were observed in early cases, cuneiform opacities occurred in later cases.