Horrible events can leave lasting effects on a human's mental and physical wellbeing. Luckily for an Austrian man, instead of losing his eye sight completely, once exposed a punch in the face left him with a beautiful star-like cataract. According to his doctors, the 55-year-old man complained of his eyesight got worse in the last six months.
Cataracts often look like white or yellow clouds, but for this 55-year-old man, his cataract resembled a beautiful star. (Picture from: http://www.counselheal.com/) |
In a report published on April 4, 2013 in the New England Journal of Medicine, the doctors said that nine months earlier the patient had suffered a punch in the eye.
"Nature has created a beautiful cataracts," says Dr. Mark Fromer, an ophthalmologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, which is also an eye surgeon for the New York Rangers hockey team. He also commented about the cataract. "Most cataracts are not that good."
Cataract formation, or damage so that the eye lens clouding, is actually a common occurrence after a blow to the eye. "In sports, boxing and football lacing often the main cause of the disturbance, but the impact of the air bag and steering wheel can also cause cataracts," said Fromer.
When hit by the eyeball, the collision energy sends shock waves into the eye, which can disrupt the eye lens, making it cloudy in the area. In most cases, cataracts more often looks like an irregular cloud, white or yellowish.
Then the doctors treat the Austrian man using a procedure called phacoemulsification. Methods that use sound waves to break up the cloudy lens and throw it uses a vacuum. "The lens is replaced with an artificial lens," Fromer said. Cataract surgery is the most widely performed surgery in the world. In the U.S. alone, about 2 million cataract surgery done every year.