- The handle missed his right eyeball, but still penetrated one of his eye muscles
- WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
Surgeons had to remove a brake lever from a man’s eye after a bloody motorcycle accident.
Stomach-churning footage shows the handle embedded in the unidentified 19-year-old’s right eye socket.
Doctors in Malaysia shared details of the bizarre incident in a medical journal, telling how it missed his eyeball by millimeters but fractured his eye socket.
Medics revealed he escaped with no lasting vision problems, while retaining his 20/20 eyesight after the freak accident.
The fire brigade probably had to cut the brake lever from the bicycle at the scene of the accident.
Doctors in Malaysia shared details of the bizarre incident in a medical journal, telling how it missed his eyeball by millimeters but fractured his eye socket. Medications revealed he escaped with no lasting vision problems while retaining his 20/20 vision after the freak accident
Stomach-churning footage shows the handle embedded in the unidentified 19-year-old’s right eye socket. The fire brigade probably had to cut the brake lever from the bicycle at the scene of the accident
Upon arrival at the Universiti Malaya Eye Research Center in Kuala Lumpur, the man’s eye was painful and swollen.
Doctors discovered that his retina, the light-sensitive layer of tissue at the back of the eye that helps us see, was damaged and cloudy.
CT scans showed that the handle of the bicycle had pierced under his eyeball and damaged the bone around his nose.
The lever, of unknown length, had missed his pupil and vital nerves, preventing long-term nerve damage.
An ECG, a test that records the electrical activity of the heart, also showed that he had an abnormal heart rhythm of only 45 to 48 beats per minute.
According to the British Heart Foundation, a normal resting rate should be between 60 and 100 beats per minute.
Medics diagnosed him with oculocardial reflex (OCR), in which a drop in heart rate is caused by pressure on the eye muscles.
The man was rushed to emergency surgery, where they successfully removed the handle and damaged tissue, stitched the wound and repaired his eyelid.
A follow-up appointment six months later revealed that his vision had returned to normal. The damage to his retina had also healed. In the American Journal of Ophthalmology Case Reports, doctors write that his right eye still appears sunken by about 5 mm. However, the man refused further treatment
The damaged bone around his nose was also secured with two screws.
Medics did not reveal when he was discharged or provide more details about his crash.
A follow-up appointment six months later revealed that his vision had returned to normal. The damage to his retina had also healed.
Writing in the Case reports from the American Journal of OphthalmologyDoctors said his right eye still appeared sunken about 5mm.
However, the man refused further treatment.
So far, only a handful of cases of OCR caused by an object entering the body have been published, doctors said.
Studies have shown that OCR can be fatal if not treated quickly, with complications of the condition including autonomic dysreflexia – an exaggerated response of your autonomic nervous system – ‘difficult and complex to manage’.