Written by: Express News Service
2 min readJaipurSep 24, 2013 12:45 AM IST
First published on: Sep 24, 2013 at 12:45 AM IST
A human eyeball has survived for over 15 hours after being wrenched from its socket,and is now ready to be replanted in the human body.
The astonishing case described as very rare by the doctor who dealt with it came about after a woman out to collect firewood in Mt Abu was attacked by a bear who gouged out one of her eyes on Friday. The woman,51-year-old Santosh Kanwar,was found screaming in agony by her son Kishore Singh,who rushed her to hospital.
Over 15 hours later,Singh went back to the spot to look for her mothers mobile phone,which she had dropped when the bear attacked. There,he made an unexpected discovery: propped on a branch,Santoshs clawed-out eyeball. Singh picked it up and took it to the hospital where Santosh was admitted.
Surprised doctors found the eye perfectly well-preserved,and ready for a transplant. It could not,however,be returned to Santosh,who has suffered extensive damage to tissues in the eye socket,and would be ready for a possible transplant only after her wounds heal.
Doctors then persuaded the family to donate the eye.
Dr Sudhir Singh,ophthalmologist,Global Hospital and Research Centre,told The Indian Express,This is a very rare case where the eyeball was miraculously well preserved. It was gouged out with perfect surgical precision and what is more surprising is that it was lodged on a twig and survived in open air conditions.
According to Dr Singh,Temperatures in Mount Abu are low and there was slight rain,which helped wash the eye kept it moist. The moist chamber needed for eye preservation was provided naturally in this case. Also,because it came out of a live person,the eye was in a healthy condition,unlike in the case of dead donors.
Dr Singh said the eyeball has been treated further and sent to an eye bank in Ahmedabad. We convinced the family that though it could not be used on the victim any longer,it was fit for a transplant.
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