The medicolegal aspect of antemortem and postmortem eye examination.

Forensic Medicine is fast growing and important branch of medicine. Some subdivisions of this subject like Thanatology, Toxicology are taking their shape separately. Forensic Ophthalmology is one of the newly emerging dimensions of the subject.

A forensic pathologist can gather a lot of medico-legal information by examining the eye both in antemortem and postmortem cases.
Various characteristics of the eye have also been thought to be useful in determination of PMI (postmortem interval). Specifically, authors have proposed measurement of vitreous humor analyses and intraocular pressure studies as a useful tool for this purpose. Through the years, a few papers have appeared which have suggested that the retina itself may be a telling means of determining PMI. Various biometric technologies have been considered for use within the military, including facial recognition, iris scanning, finger scanning, and voice verification. Iris scanning was deemed to be the most suitable current biometric technology. Ocular injuries are very common and are of great variety and complexity. Besides structural and functional loss they have social, occupational and medico-legal implications. Eye ball and its adnexa is a closely linked congregation of many delicate tissues which are affected in a variety of ways to various degrees.A large proportion of abused children have internal eye damage and clinicians are alert to the necessity of ophthalmoscopic examination to look for retinal hemorrhages, vitreous bleeding and displaced lenses. Aim of the work: To reveal the human eye as an important tool for many medico-legal investigations both in antemortem and postmortem cases. So I recommend that: Fundoscopic examination must be carried out after head trauma (in ICU). Fundoscopic examination must be carried out after all sudden deaths of children. Pars plana endoscopy is a conventional method in postmortem practices, which indicate the beginning of the non-interventional technique in the autopsy.