New Delhi, Dec 18 (IANS) The 18-month-old baby who survived after a crochet needle accidentally pierced her right eye and brain is recovering, but doctors at AIIMS Thursday said preventing double vision and infection will be a tough task.
'The baby, Kumkukm, is recovering in the ICU. But preventing brain infection and restoring complete vision will be the main challenge for our team,' M.C. Misra, head of the trauma centre at the premier All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), told IANS.
'We think the vision is normal but in such situations, diplopia (double vision) is the main threat. After a couple of weeks we will conduct special tests to know if the kid has normal vision or is seeing one object as two,' he added.
Kumkum had apparently got hold of the crochet needle at her Okhla home Dec 12. She fell accidentally, and the needle pierced her right eye.
She was brought to the AIIMS Trauma Centre the same day with the thick six-inch needle stuck in her eye. The girl was bleeding profusely. The needle had gone through the globe of the eye touching the roof of the orbit and had entered the brain.
The baby was saved after a team of multi-disciplinary doctors at AIIMS performed surgery lasting one hour and forty minutes.
Misra said the baby had started taking liquid food. 'The baby will be in ICU for a few more days and take medicine for 10 days (till Dec 22). After that we will review the situation.'
Deepak Gupta, one of the team members who performed surgery on Kumkum, said the baby was under close observation.
