When the official unified rules of mixed martial arts were being drafted, one of the easiest decisions made by all those involved was to ban the use of eye gouging of any kind.

However, on the street, there are no rules and it would be foolhardy for anyone to engage in a street fight without realizing the very real possibility of being gouged in the eyes. Conversely, anyone engaging in a truly no rules fight, in a situation far outside the safety provided by a regulating body such as an athletic commission, must realize that a well-timed and well-placed eye gouge could change the course of a violent interaction very quickly, and may save their life.

Learn the secrets of this barbarous technique in the video below.

The eye gouge is a special kind of attack in that its impact is three-fold.

First, it is an extremely painful attack to absorb. The pain that is experienced when the eye is struck or scratched can be overwhelming and is sometimes one its own enough to end a confrontation. This is mostly due to the presence of the highly sensitive nasociliary nerve (which is the sensory nerve of the eyeball).

Along with being a highly painful attack to absorb, an eye gouge can also be a disabling attack. While particularly vicious eye gouges may damage the muscles that control the eye’s movement, even the slightest scratch to the cornea may cause temporary blindness. More severe attacks to the eye may damage the cornea in such a way that blindness it permanent. As the severity of an eye gouge increases, so does the likelihood that blindness will be permanent.

Which brings us to the third impact of the eye gouge: It is terrifying.

Most people struck or gouged in the eye, regardless of severity, are going to be overwhelmed with fear that they may be facing permanent blindness as a result of the attack. It often causes an opponent to turn tail and run in an effort to preserve their sight and live to fight another day.