2006-03-20

Have You Seen My Eye?

Did you see Villanova basketball star Allan Ray get his eyeball poked out of its socket by an opposing player? Boink!

He'll be fine but it begs the question of non-squeamish, curious types - what the hell do you do if your eyeball falls out of its socket?

Put back in.

Daniel Engber goes into detail:

"The longer you remain in this rare condition—known as "globe luxation"—the more strain you'll put on the blood vessels and nerves that connect your eye to the rest of your head. Your luxated globes will also be susceptible to corneal abrasions or inflammation, and the feeling of your eyelids clamped down behind them won't be pleasant.

You should be able to get your eye back in place without serious, long-term damage. (If the ocular muscles tear or if the optic nerve is severed, your outlook won't be as clear.) The treatment for globe luxation is pretty simple: Doctors apply some topical painkillers, hold back your lashes, and poke your eyeball into its socket by pressing on the white part with gloved fingers. (In some cases, they'll use a simple tool like a bent paperclip to shoehorn it back into place.) You might get antibiotics, lubricating drops, or steroids to follow up for a few days while your vision returns to normal. If your doctors can't pop your eye back in—because you've got too much swelling in the socket, for example—they'll give you an eye shield and consider a more invasive procedure."

And once popped, sometimes they just keep on a poppin'. Especially if you have floppy eyelid syndrome. Seriously. That's what its called.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

this is what happened to Raul Julia. He was filming Adams Family and was out to lunch, scratched his eye and it popped right out. So he popped it right back in. They did have to film around him because his eye was so red. I make it a habit now to keep my eye closed when I scratch arount it.

Fence said...

You know that this will have to be quoted

I mean, dislocating a shoulder sounds icky enough, but popping out eyeballs. That just aint right.