Surgery helps restore man’s vision

Doctors at Stanley hospital managed to remove the bone around the patient’s eyeball which had been fractured in an accident

Surgery was a gamble that paid off in the case of 28-year-old M. Manimaran, who had lost vision in his right eye following an accident.

On August 1, the carpenter was hit by a drunk driver on a motorcycle, and the bone surrounding his right eyeball fractured, placing pressure on the optic nerve. For about two weeks, he was blind in the right eye.

At Government Stanley Hospital, doctors told him that they could take a chance and perform a surgery to attempt restoring his vision. He agreed.

“The only way to access the nerve is through the nose,” D. Balasubramaniam, head of the ENT department at the hospital, said at a press meet on Wednesday. “With an endoscope and a high-resolution camera, we removed the entire bone, giving the optic nerve space to expand.”

Immediately after the procedure, Mr. Manimaran complained of bright light, and by the next day, he could see colours. Soon, he was reading.

“He was the only earning member in his family. We took a chance, and it worked,” said Dr. Balasubramaniam.

The procedure was performed under the Chief Minister’s comprehensive health insurance scheme.