It must be every parent's nightmare: You're watching an under-16 football match, and your son goes to head the ball. The front-door key hanging round his neck flips up and gets caught in the way of the approaching ball. The key penetrates his left eye socket and becomes embedded deep within it.
This incident happened to a 15-year-old boy, who presented to the emergency department of the Technical University of Munich in June 2008. A CT examination showed that the key was lodged within the orbit, but fortunately it did not injure the globe. He had surgery to loosen and remove the key, which had entered the inferior wall of the orbit. The patient was also given prophylactic broad-spectrum antibiotics.
 |
| Top and bottom left: These photos were taken at the time of presentation to the emergency department, and show the key penetrating the left orbit. Top right: CT scan shows upward displacement of the globe. The key has penetrated the inferior wall of the orbit, but the muscles, optic nerve, and globe are not affected. Bottom right: The foreign body, with the scale in cm. Images courtesy of the Lancet and Dr. Christian Mayer. |
"Our patient recovered well after surgery and had no visual sequelae. He was in violation of Federation Internationale de Football Association (International Federation of Association Football [FIFA]) rules by wearing a necklace with a key during the game," wrote Dr. Christian Mayer of the Eye Clinic Klinikum rechts der Isar der Technischen Universität München in the 7 May edition of the Lancet (Vol. 377:9777, pp. 1599).
A video clip showing the surgical loosening and removal of the key from the inferior wall of the orbit is available on the Lancet website.
