Hallazgos visuales y alteración cromática en chorreros de la empresa minera HBD de Istmina-Choco

Abstract

Introduction: Istmina is a municipality in the department of Chocó where the entables of illegal open-pit mining are located Objective: To describe the visual findings and alterations of the color vision in the chorreros of the mining company (HBD), of the municipality of Istmina-Chocó. Methods: An observational, descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in 7 male entrepreneurs of the company (HBD), whose age range ranged from 40 to 60 years. They underwent an optometric examination and were analyzed variables such as: gender, age group, pre-existing diseases, visual acuity, refractive defect, time of exposure to mercury vapor and use or not of personal protective elements. Results: Decreased visual acuity in distant vision was found in the 7 participants and in near vision in 6, the refractive defect with more prevalence was hypermetry astigmatism and the most prevalent chromatic alteration was "tritanopia". Conclusions: It was evident that 7 participants presented decreased corrected visual acuity which we could classify as mild amblyopia and found 5 of the 7 participants with tritanopia, alteration to the colour that we could not claim to be due to the inhalation of mercury vapours.