Boy, 11, has 3-inch splinter removed from eye two years after falling onto stick

An 11-year-old boy has had a 10cm-long wooden splinter pulled from his eye - two years after he fell on a stick while playing with friends. Rahul Devi had the splinter removed by surgeons in Delhi, India during a gruelling six-hour operation.

The schoolboy had been seconds from death for the past two years as the stick had penetrated his brain, narrowly missing his brain stem and carotid artery. His mother, Ratna Devi, said: 'The stick broke when he tried to get up. We took him to a local hospital where the doctors said they couldn't remove it. 'So we took him home and hoped maybe it would come out by itself.'



After two years, Rahul could no longer bear the pain and his parents took him fom their home in Kashmir to Delhi. He was seen by doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), who were shocked to see the unusual case.

'I got goose pimples when I saw the boy walk into my outpatient clinic with a stick poking out of his left eye,' said associate professor Sarat Chandra. 'I was even more horrified to find out this had been there for two years. During this time he continued with all his activities like playing, going to school, climbing trees and swimming.'



Tests revealed the splinter had penetrated the boy's brain, including areas responsible for speech and vision. Dr. A K Mahaptra, head of the Neurosurgery department said: 'It was nothing short of miracle. 'All the major areas in the brain were affected by the splinter, but there were no complications.

'It is surprising that he didn't develop an infection as the foreign body has been inside for more than two years. The boy is simply lucky.' Doctors had to be very careful during the surgery, as the slightest error may have proved fatal. They now believe that Rahul, who has lost all vision in his left eye, will take at least a month to recover.