A TODDLER was nearly blinded when he fell while holding a 4-inch thermometer which went through his eye socket and impaled his brain.
Two-year-old Cheng Xiyu was rushed to hospital with the metal spike still in his head after the horror accident on Monday.
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His mum, Ms Zhang, said she had been preparing warm baby formula when he came running after her holding a the lid of a water bottle with a thermometer attached.
But he tripped and fell face first onto the rod, which went through his right eye socket and pierced more than 2in into his brain.
Ms Zhang rushed him to a local clinic in the county of Jingyang, in north-western China’s Shaanxi Province, but his case was too severe and saw him referred straight to Xi’an Children’s Hospital in the provincial capital.
He was running after me with the lid in his hand, then he tripped. He fell face first, and I saw the thing next to his eye
Ms Zhang
She said: “I put him on the bed and told him to stay there, but he grabbed the bottle lid and ran towards me.
“He was running after me with the lid in his hand, then he tripped. He fell face first, and I saw the thing next to his eye.”
Near miss
Shi Hangyu, the hospital’s chief neurosurgeon, said 0.8 inches of the thermometer spike was in the tot’s right eye socket, while more than 2 inches had pierced his brain.
Dr Shi said: “The metal rod glanced his right eye and was pressing against it.
“It entered his brain and caused some harm, but it didn’t damage an area which significantly affects cognitive function.”
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Following a series of tests, Xiyu was brought into an operational theatre and the bottle lid was carefully pulled from his eye socket, video shows.
Dr Shi added: “The biggest challenge we faced the risk of piercing his eye or further injuring his brain.
“We were constantly looking for the best angle to remove it, and tried to wiggle it loose first.
The biggest challenge we faced the risk of piercing his eye or further injuring his brain
“The actual process of pulling the thermometer out, disinfecting his wound and such took no more than 10 minutes.
“But the thorough evaluations we did beforehand took several hours.”
Xiyu is in stable condition and is able to see out his right eye without any problems, but he remains hospitalised.
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Doctor Shi said: “We’re now monitoring several things, one of which is the path the spike took into his head.
“We’re concerned about possible brain plasma leakage.
“Another concern is, of course, infections. But even in the case of no infections, he will need to be kept here for one week.”
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