I’m currently reading a book on the battle for Iwo Jima and one story from a Marine relays how he jumped into a shell crater and came face to face with another Marine who had one of his eyeballs hanging out only held on by the optic nerve. Ouch!
So my questions are:
1: Can an eyeball be popped back into the socket and be fixed?
2: Can the eyeball still “see” even though it hanging out of the socket? If so, how would your brain process the two different images it would be receiving?
I worked with a lady who was 9 years old when wherever she was (somewhere in Italy) was bombed and her eyeball was popped out and hanging by the optic nerve. Freaked out everybody around her. It was popped back in. She thinks they put it back in upside down, but no problems with her vision, that is to say, she could see. She does wear glasses.
I don’t know whether the eyeball could see while hanging out of her face. She thought they wrapped her head in something–she also had a concussion–and got her to a medic, but she only remembers bits of this traumatic experience, and has filled in from what people told her about it.
I don’t know the answer but a friend of mine knew a guy who supposedly had what he called a “death grip” and when somebody called bullshit, they also offered to allow this death grip (chokehold?) to be put on them and supposedly said volunteer’s eye popped out of the socket.
I don’t know if you can see out of a popped eyeball, but if you can, my guess is that your brain can/will selectively ignore that eye’s input, since you can’t control where it’s looking or focusing.
I know that I can choose to use only one eye at a time without closing the other lid. The other eye’s field of vision essentially becomes completely peripheral. Is this common?
I’d also wonder whether – if you can see out of a popped eyeball – the ability would decline as the surface dries and dust accumulates. And further, if it does, could you crudely “blink” to clean and lubricate with a spray bottle of clean water/saline?
One of the stories in the book Flags of Our Fathers talks about a skirmish on Iwo Jima wherein one of the Marines had both eyes hanging on his cheeks after a concussive blast. He not only survived, but his vision was intact once the eyes were reset.
Depends how far it’s popped out. If it’s actually dangling from the optic nerve, usually the vision goes black. Yes, it can be popped in, and if the nerve and blood supply wasn’t damaged by twisting or crushing, vision usually returns to normal.
Great screaming heebie jeebies. Eyeballs gross me out so much. I’d rather clean maggot infested wounds than go near a patient’s eyeball. shudder