What Is Gas Blindness?

Mustard gas causes the skin to blister. Symptoms start with an immediate itching, which develops over the course of a day into deep blisters in the skin. The eyes become sore and eyelids swollen. Exposure to high concentrations can attack the corneas, resulting in blindness.

What gas causes blindness?

Mustard gas-related ocular injuries

Late complications, developing after 1–40 years, can cause progressive and permanent reduction in visual acuity and even blindness, and they occur in approximately 0.5% of those initially severely wounded [6, 13].

What gas killed the most soldiers in ww1?

It is estimated that as many as 85% of the 91,000 gas deaths in WWI were a result of phosgene or the related agent, diphosgene (trichloromethane chloroformate). The most commonly used gas in WWI was 'mustard gas' [bis(2-chloroethyl) sulfide].