The foolish mother often plucked out her daughter's inverted eyelashes, but the result was tragic!

Because her child had inverted eyelashes, the mother had been plucking his eyelashes for two years. Unexpectedly, the cornea was injured and he had to undergo surgery at the Aier Eye Hospital Affiliated to Wuhan University.

Huanggang Ms. Sun's daughter Beibei (pseudonym) is 7 years old this year. Two years ago, Beibei felt a foreign body in her eyes, accompanied by photophobia and tearing. She was diagnosed with inverted eyelashes at the hospital and the doctor recommended surgery. Ms. Sun thought that since her child was still young, inverted eyelashes were not a big problem and could be removed with tweezers. So every month, Ms. Sun had to remove Beibei's inverted eyelashes.

Until last week, Beibei went to the optical shop to get glasses because she couldn't see the blackboard clearly in class, but she couldn't open her eyes and kept crying and couldn't cooperate. In a hurry, Ms. Sun took her to the Affiliated Affiliated Aier Eye Hospital of Wuhan University.

During the naked eye vision test, Beibei's vision in both eyes was only 0.4. Tu Huifang, chief physician of the Eyelid and Orbital Disease/Eye Plastic Surgery Department of Aier Eye Hospital, found that the inner 2/3 eyelashes of Beibei's lower eyelids were inverted towards the eyeballs, directly contacting the cornea, the conjunctiva of both eyes was congested, and there were patches of epithelial defects on the cornea. Finally, Beibei was diagnosed with entropion and trichiasis of both eyes, and corneal epithelial damage in both eyes, and needed surgery.

When she heard that Ms. Sun had been plucking Beibei's inverted eyelashes, Tu Huifang sighed. Inverted eyelashes can be plucking, but this is only a temporary solution. Even if the inverted eyelashes are plucked out, the new eyelashes will be thicker and harder, causing greater friction and irritation to the cornea, making it easier to scratch the cornea and cause corneal damage. Plucking inverted eyelashes for a long time may also lead to disordered eyelashes and multiple eyelashes. At this time, it is difficult to correct disordered eyelashes and multiple eyelashes with surgery. Even if they are corrected, it may cause eyelid deformity.

"Children's inverted eyelashes are relatively common, mainly because the bridge of the nose of infants and young children is not developed, and the eyelid margin is thick, which makes it easy for the eyelashes to curl inwards and form inverted eyelashes." Tu Huifang introduced that in infancy, because the eyelashes are soft and few, they generally do not affect the cornea. With the increase of age and the development of the nasal bones, part of the inverted eyelashes can recover. But the other part cannot recover, and the eyelashes become thicker. At this time, the impact on the cornea is greater, which can easily lead to punctate opacities or epithelial defects in the corneal epithelium, and surgical treatment is necessary.

Although eyelashes are soft, they can definitely fall towards and pierce the eyeball. However, since the harm caused by them was not so strong at first, people have many different ways to deal with them, but they often fall into misunderstandings... Among patients with entropion and trichiasis, there are several common wrong behaviors that occur too frequently, which really makes doctors shout "no, no, no":

Procrastination Correction

For children, since the bones of the bridge of the nose and other organs have not yet fully developed, the symptoms of inverted eyelashes may improve or disappear as they grow. However, there are also cases where corrective treatment is needed. Therefore, parents should not make their own judgments, but should seek professional diagnosis from a doctor to avoid delaying the child's treatment and causing damage to their eyesight.

As for entropion and trichiasis in adults, there is almost no possibility of self-healing, so please seek medical attention as soon as possible.

Rubbing your eyes to relieve

Rubbing your eyes feels good for a while. When your eyes are uncomfortable due to inverted eyelashes, rubbing your eyes seems to immediately relieve the stinging, itching and foreign body sensation. But everyone must know that this is by no means a long-term solution. Repeated rubbing to relieve the pain will only increase the friction of the eyelashes on the eyeball, and the complications may come faster.

Drug treatment

For example, eye drops prescribed by doctors are mainly used to treat the damage caused by entropion and trichiasis, such as corneal and conjunctival pain. However, drugs cannot change the direction of eyelashes and eyelids, so there is no such thing as using drugs to "treat" or "correct" entropion and trichiasis.

Self-pruning or self-pulling

Inverted eyelashes irritate the eyeballs, can they be cut off? Of course not. Many patients use scissors, razors, etc. to trim the pathological eyelashes themselves, and the discomfort seems to be relieved instantly. However, in fact, the eyelashes that grow back after cutting will be thicker and harder, and the damage to the cornea and conjunctiva will be more serious.

Pulling out the eyelashes by yourself will have the same consequences. What's more serious is that pulling out the eyelashes by yourself can easily cause infection and inflammation, which is harmful rather than helpful to the treatment of inverted eyelashes.

General treatment

Tu Huifang, member of the Asia-Pacific Head and Neck Facial Plastic Surgery Association, chief physician, and director of the Department of Eyelid and Orbital Disease/Ocular Plastic Surgery at the Aier Eye Hospital affiliated to Wuhan University, introduced: In fact, there are many types of inverted eyelashes. For example, a few inverted eyelashes are caused by abnormalities in a few hair follicles, and a whole row of inverted eyelashes are caused by entropion. Depending on the specific situation of the inverted eyelashes, the corrective measures taken also need to be specifically analyzed. It is unscientific to blindly perform surgery or not to perform surgery.

Director Tu Huifang reminds: Generally speaking, electrolysis and other methods can be considered for a small number of inverted eyelashes, while an entire row of inverted eyelashes or entropion eyelashes require surgical correction. Of course, it is more important to follow the doctor's professional diagnosis and advice to decide on the final correction plan.