‘It is what it is ...’: men’s experiences of ocular chemical substance attacks in North-East England

Ocular corrosive substance attacks (OCSA) have become a persistent form of social violence in North-East England, now a region with one of the highest rates of such attacks nationally. Drawing on qualitative interviews with a small sample of survivors, this study examines how such attacks both reflect and contribute to cycles of social violence rooted in deprivation, institutional erosion and the decline of formal authority. It analyses how informal systems of justice – anchored in local economies, kinship and reputational dispute – sustain corrosive use as a means of asserting control and enforcing deterrence. These attacks are not isolated incidents but patterned responses within communities where structural neglect and insecurity intersect. Survivors describe lasting physical and psychological harm alongside deep mistrust in state institutions. Clinical innovation has improved the capacity to repair injury, yet without structural reform these medical advances remain ameliorative rather than transformative, addressing harm but not the conditions that allow violence to persist.