A steel nail pierced through a man's eyeball and formed a "fishhook" shape. The doctor removed the "thorn in the eye" and saved his eyesight

Because he was not wearing goggles, the man was accidentally shot in the right eye by a nail from a nail gun, and faced the risk of having his eyeball removed. After being sent to the hospital in time, the doctor removed the "thorn in the eye", saved the eyeball, and the man's vision was restored.

Mr. Hu (pseudonym), 36, is a decoration worker. A few days ago, he used a nail gun to reinforce two steel plates. Unexpectedly, a nail missed the target, hit the steel plate and rebounded into his right eye. Seeing this, his coworkers immediately sent him to the Aier Eye Hospital affiliated to Wuhan University for treatment. "At that time, I just felt a foreign object 'flying' into my eye, followed by a sharp pain, and I couldn't see with my right eye." Recalling the moment of injury, Mr. Hu is still in shock.

After a detailed examination, Yuan Jing, the attending physician of the hospital's fundus disease department, found that there was an iron nail-like substance that passed through the eyeball wall about 6 mm on the temporal side of Mr. Hu's corneal scleral margin. Due to a large amount of blood accumulation in the anterior chamber, the actual situation of the posterior segment of the eyeball could no longer be clear, so Mr. Hu was arranged to undergo further examination through an eye B-ultrasound.

The examination results made Yuan Jing's heart tighten: the 2-cm-long steel nail became U-shaped under the impact of external force, and penetrated from the temporal side of the sclera to the nasal side of the vitreous cavity, like a "fish hook", tightly hooking the surrounding structures. This means that he will not be able to remove the steel nail straight up and down during the operation, and the slightest carelessness may cause greater damage to the eyeball. If the operation is not performed in time, it is very easy to develop serious complications such as endophthalmitis and even blindness.

On the night of admission, Yuan Jing performed surgery on Mr. Hu. During the operation, Yuan Jing used a microscope to determine the specific direction of the steel nails, planned an ideal arc route, carefully removed the steel nails, and performed debridement and suture of the scleral laceration. After the operation, the team actively carried out anti-inflammatory treatment for Mr. Hu. After the eye inflammation stabilized, Yuan Jing performed a vitrectomy on him to clear the vitreous hemorrhage in his right eye. At present, Mr. Hu's sclera and fundus have recovered well, and the vision of his right eye has recovered to 0.5, which has no impact on his daily life.

The steel nails removed during the operation (Photo courtesy of Aier Eye Hospital Affiliated to Wuhan University)

Yuan Jing reminded that penetrating eye injuries caused by foreign objects entering the eye are a common and serious eye injury with many complications and a high rate of blindness. When doing indoor decoration or outdoor work, please be sure to wear protective glasses, pay attention to safety, and strengthen precautions to prevent accidental injuries. If you find a hard foreign object entering the eye, do not wipe or clean the eye. Immediately bandage the injured eye with sterile gauze and go to a regular ophthalmic medical institution for treatment as soon as possible.