Abu Dhabi: A delicate surgery in the capital has saved the life of a two-year-old Emirati boy who had been suffering because the lead from a broken pencil was lodged in his eye socket.
The surgery was conducted at Shaikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC), and experts at the facility told Gulf News that the boy could have suffered paralysis and even death without urgent intervention.
The patient had apparently fallen on a pencil, and it had penetrated his eye. Although the parents had removed the pencil, the boy had soon developed abscesses, a condition where pus accumulates and leads to the inflammation of body tissue. These were drained twice, only to appear again.
On being brought to SKMC, doctors reviewed medical scans and found pieces of pencil and lead that had been left behind in his right eye, said Dr Habibullah Al Awadhi, chair of ophthalmology at SKMC. These foreign bodies were infecting the eye, and the infection had also reached the brain, causing the abscesses.
“The abscesses were affecting his speech and ability to walk, and also causing him to become drowsy,” he said.
Dr Essam Elgamal, paediatric neurosurgeon and chair of neurosurgery at the hospital, then performed a four-and-a-half-hour procedure in collaboration with Dr Al Awadhi. The surgery involved the removal of the pencil bits, and a craniotomy, in which a portion of the skull is temporarily removed, the abscess drained and the skull closed again.
Following this, the patient was given intravenous antibiotics and anti-convulsion medication for almost two months before being discharged. He also required physiotherapy to recover from the craniotomy.
“Fortunately, he has almost healed fully, and should have no future complications,” Dr Al Awadhi said.
He added that parents should also practice extra caution to ensure that children are not harmed by sharp objects around them.
“Eye penetration injuries are not uncommon, so parents cannot afford to leave children unattended. They should also remove pointed objects from around them,” he added.
