Man, 19, miraculously escapes being blinded after brake handle from his MOTORCYCLE flew into his eye during horror crash

Surgeons had to remove a brake handle from a man’s eye after a gory motorcycle crash. 

Stomach-churning images show the handle embedded in the unidentified 19-year-old’s right eye socket. 

Sharing details of the freak incident in a medical journal, doctors in Malaysia told how it missed his eyeball by millimetres but fractured his socket.

Medics revealed he escaped with no lasting sight problems, maintaining his 20/20 vision in the wake of the bizarre accident. 

Firefighters are thought to have to cut the brake lever from the bike at the scene of the crash.

Sharing details of the freak incident in a medical journal, doctors in Malaysia told how it missed his eyeball by millimetres but fractured his socket. Medics revealed he escaped with no lasting sight problems, maintaining his 20/20 vision in the wake of the bizarre accident 

Stomach-churning images show the handle embedded in the unidentified 19-year-old’s right eye socket. Firefighters are thought to have to cut the brake lever from the bike at the scene of the crash

Upon arrival at the Universiti Malaya Eye Research Centre in Kuala Lumpur, the man’s eye was painful and swollen.

Doctors found his retina, the light-sensitive layer of tissue at the back of the eye that helps us see, was damaged and cloudy. 

CT scans showed the bike handle had punctured below his eyeball and damaged the bone around his nose. 

The lever, of unspecified length, had missed his pupil and vital nerves, preventing long-term nerve damage.

An ECG, a test recording the electrical activity of the heart, also found he was suffering an abnormal heart rhythm of between just 45 and 48 beats per minute.

According to the British Heart Foundation, a normal resting rate should sit between 60 to 100 beats per minute.  

Medics diagnosed him with oculocardiac reflex (OCR), when a drop in heart rate is caused by pressure on the eye muscles. 

The man was rushed into emergency surgery, where they successfully removed the handle, along with damaged tissue, stitched up the wound and repaired his eyelid. 

A follow-up appointment six months later found his vision had returned to normal. Damage to his retina had also healed. Writing in the American Journal of Ophthalmology Case Reports, doctors said his right eye still appeared sunken by around 5mm. However, the man refused any further treatment

The damaged bone around his nose was also fixed with two screws. 

Medics did not reveal when he was discharged, nor did they give any more details about his crash. 

A follow-up appointment six months later found his vision had returned to normal. Damage to his retina had also healed. 

Writing in the American Journal of Ophthalmology Case Reports, doctors said his right eye still appeared sunken by around 5mm. 

However, the man refused any further treatment. 

Just a handful of cases of OCR triggered by an object penetrating the body have been published to date, medics said. 

Studies have shown OCR can prove fatal if not treated promptly, with complications of the condition, such as autonomic dysreflexia — an overreaction of your autonomic nervous system — ‘difficult and complex to manage’.