on victims. Their alkylating capabilities make them strongly carcinogenic and mutagenic. Furthermore, they are highly lipophilic, which accelerates their absorption into the body. Because people exposed to mustard agents rarely suffer immediate symptoms, and contaminated areas may appear completely normal, victims can unknowingly receive high doses. Within 24 hours of exposure, victims experience intense itching and skin irritation. If this irritation goes untreated, blisters filled with yellow fluid (pus) can start to form wherever the agent contacted the skin. These are chemical burns and are very debilitating. Mustard gases easily penetrate clothing fabrics such as wool or cotton, so it is not only exposed skin that gets burned. If the victim's eyes were exposed, then they become sore, starting with conjunctivitis (also known as pink eye), after which the eyelids swell, resulting in temporary blindness. Extreme ocular exposure to mustard gas vapors may result in corneal ulceration, anterior chamber scarring, and neovascularization. In these severe and infrequent cases, corneal transplantation has been used as a treatment option. Miosis, when the pupil constricts more than usual, may also occur, which is probably the result of the cholinomimetic activity of mustard. At very high concentrations, if inhaled, mustard agents cause bleeding and blistering within the respiratory system, damaging mucous membranes and causing pulmonary edema. Depending on the level of contamination, mustard agent burns can vary between first and second degree burns, though they can also be every bit as severe, disfiguring, and dangerous as third degree burns. Burns that are severe (i.e. covering more than 50% of the victim's skin) are often fatal, with death occurring after only days or weeks. Mild or moderate exposure to mustard gases is unlikely to kill, though victims still require lengthy periods of medical treatment and convalescence before recovery is complete. Mustard gases' carcinogenic and mutagenic effects mean that victims, even if they fully recover, have an increased risk of developing cancer later in life. In a study of patients 25 years after wartime exposure to chemical weaponry, c-DNA microarray profiling indicated that 122 genes were significantly mutated in the lungs and airways of mustard gas victims. Those genes all correspond to functions commonly affected by mustard gas exposure, including apoptosis, inflammation, and stress responses. The long-term ocular complications include burning, tearing, itching, photophobia, presbyopia, pain, and foreign-body sensations. Mustard gases' blistering effects can be neutralized by oxidation or chlorination, using household bleach (sodium hypochlorite), or