Assaults with acid are difficult to treat and leave the victim socially isolated and physically and emotionally scarred

Plastic surgeons call acid attacks "the $2 assault." That is all it costs to buy plumber's acid and throw it at someone's face or hands. A cheap act of revenge that causes life-long disfigurement.

"Once you've seen one of these, they stay in your mind," says Joel Fish, a plastic surgeon at Toronto's Sunnybrook Hospital who has treated a number of acid burn victims. "The acid can burn the cornea and blind you, and can create deep and difficult wounds to deal with, and horrific scarring."

The acid - nitric or sulphuric - can cause the skin tissue to melt and penetrates to the bone. It can destroy the cornea and lead to blindness.

"They are the most disturbing kinds of burns to deal with," said Dr. Fish, who is also the chief medical officer at St. John's Rehabilitation Hospital in Toronto.

Doctors in Kandahar City treated at least three of eight Afghan girls for serious facial burns and tried to save their eyes after an attacker sprayed acid in their faces as they walked to high school yesterday.

The attack, apparently motivated by anger over the girls' attending school, was the first of its kind in the city.

However, acid attacks on women have occurred for years in Bangladesh, India, Cambodia and Pakistan. They are usually the result of family or land disputes, dowry demands or a desire for revenge, according to Acid Survivors Foundation in Bangladesh. Often women have trouble finding husbands, and face social isolation and ostracism, notes the foundation on its website.

Burns caused by acid are difficult to treat. First the skin must be flushed with water, sometimes for hours, until the offending agent has been washed off. Then, the dead tissue must be removed, and finally, often weeks later, reconstructive surgery begins.

The psychological damage is also profound, said Anthony Papp, medical director of the burn unit at Vancouver General Hospital. "The scarring is there forever, even after surgery," he said. "It is harder for these women to get married, and that is often the goal of the attacker."

A similar organization, the Depilex Smile Again Foundation (DSF), was founded in Pakistan in 2003 for female victims of deliberate acid and kerosene burning.

Their website notes that the face and genitalia are most commonly targeted and that survival can be worse than death because of the physical disfigurement, immobility and psychological complications. The viciousness of vitriolage

Acid attacks are so common in some countries that the practice has a legal and medical term: vitriolage.

THE WEAPONS

The most common agents are sulphuric, nitric and hydrochloric acid, which are widely used in artisanal industries such as jewellery-making and leather-tanning and are readily available.

THE MOTIVES

Attacks are often sparked by rejected romantic, sexual or marital advances or as reprisal against a spouse or a lover in response to an infidelity.In Bangladesh, more than 50 per cent of the attacks have to do with land or wealth disputes. In India, acid is sometimes used by upper-caste individuals to punish the lower caste for perceived violations of the social order.

THE VICTIMS

It's estimated that 80 per cent of the victims are women, and 40 per cent are under 18.

Sources: Acid Survivors Foundation; Cambodian Acid Survivors Charity

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