Wood sliver removed from six-year-old girl's eye

A piece of wood a few inches long that had pierced a six-year-old's eye was successfully taken out by doctors of neurosurgery at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

Even though Shivani has not got back her eye-sight till now, she was saved from contracting other serious ailments like meningitis due to infection.

The girl from Haridwar was playing with a stick with other children. Her father said suddenly the front portion of the stick entered her right eye damaging the cornea.

Though the stick was removed from the eye, a two-and-a-half inch sliver remained inside.
She was brought to AIIMS after one month of the accident with a condition called proptosis. Proptosis is bulging of the eye anteriorly out of the orbit. Doctors at the neurosurgery department conducted the surgery early September.

Dr Avijit Sarkari, senior resident, AIIMS said, "Part of the wood had penetrated her brain. It would have been difficult to take it out in one go as that would damage surrounding tissues. We broke the wood into many parts and took each piece out separately."   
Five tiny pieces of wood were taken out from Shivani's eye. Stitches on her eye are still to be opened.

“Since the accident, her right eye had stopped showing any movement. After the surgery, her eye balls showed some motion. Swelling in the eye has improved, but the stitches are still there,” said Jitendra Kumar, Shivani's father.

Only after the stitches are removed will one know about her eye-sight. Now her eyes can bear surgery of cornea, or a transplant if need be.

"It was not only about eye-sight. The major danger was of infection. The stick could have caused infection in her eye or brain. In fact she had symptoms of meningitis, for which also she was treated with high doses of anti-biotics," said Dr Sarkari.
Dr Deepak Gupta, lead surgeon for the operation, said, "Children play unprotected around us. There should be proper supervision of the adults to avoid such cases.”