The Doctors: Ryan’s Eye Injury From Baseball
Ryan, 13, loves playing baseball. He said he has been playing since he was a little kid. But after one accident on the field, he may not being playing ever again.
The Doctors talked with a young boy, Ryan, who had a serious baseball injury that left him blind in one eye.
After getting hit in the face by a line drive, Ryan’s father said he rushed on the field as Ryan screamed about his eye. His father could see blood running down his face and the area around his eye swelled immediately. There was nothing they could do but wait for the ambulance.
After getting the CT scan back, doctors determined he had fractured his orbital bone badly and many other bones in his face were broken. But it was worse than that. Ryan had damaged his optic nerve leaving him blind in his left eye.
The Drs: Damaged Optic Nerve
The Doctors were amazing by Ryan’s resilience and the support of his community. His teammates made bracelets which they wear at every game and another one of his friends made shirts reading “30K” to support Ryan.
He said he is doing well after the surgery and has changed his sport over to basketball. He said it was difficult at first to live with only one working eye, but he said he has become used to it. He is even pretty good at basketball.
Check out the video below to see how Ryan is doing, how he was able to recover and what “30K” stands for.
The Drs TV: Wait For Ambulance For Eye Injuries
The Doctors invited Dr. Kerry Assil on the show to explain just what happened to Ryan’s eye. He said the impact from the baseball shattered many bones, but it also impacted the optic nerve, ruining it forever. The nerve is now long and tethered, as can be seen in the CT scan below. The eye, just like the brain, is not able to regenerate, meaning the damage will never be reversed. The swelling of the tissue around the eye was also bad and contributed to a tear in the wall of the eye. There was nothing the doctors in the emergency room could have done to save his sight.
But Ryan’s father did the right thing when his child was injured – he waited for an ambulance. The Drs. said when an eye is swollen shut to never try and pry the eye open because it can cause more injury to eye. The video below explains Ryan’s eye injury in further detail and you can watch Ryan shoot a couple hoops as well.
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