Losing an eye

[DragonOfTheAerie]

Ok, quick question: under what circumstances would an injured eye have to be completely removed leaving a socket empty (if any, but I think this happens.) I've seen and heard tell of eye injuries where the eye is stitched shut, but would someone ever just remove the eye leaving an empty socket? What if said patient wore a glass eye? Or an eye patch? Almost any kind of injury could work...

 

[mulierrex]

My aunt's an eye surgeon so I asked her about this one. Possibilities for removal of an eye can include: An eye tumor, which is of course when a tumor grows in or around the eye; glaucoma, which is a disease that worsens over time and causes blindness while affecting the optic nerve; general injury or an infection inside the eye. There are two ways an eye might be removed, and one is the complete removal of the eyeball, which sounds like what you're describing. The other is the removal of just the gel-like substance in the eye. Fact of the matter is it isn't that "uncommon" for an eye to be completely removed, as long as the setting makes it clear that there is no hope in trying to save the eye from whatever injury it sustained. After removal, the patient has to take antibiotics; naturally this is a fantasy setting so I'm not sure how that would work. Also after removal, the eye socket will change shape, so adjustments to the prosthetic/glass eye would have to be made. And of course eye patches are always an option.

 

[mulierrex]

Let me take back what I said about glass eyes and antibiotics. Because of the era (I assume it's primitive compared to today), they'd likely have to cauterize it shut to prevent infection (which would very likely lead to death).

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

My aunt's an eye surgeon so I asked her about this one. Possibilities for removal of an eye can include: An eye tumor, which is of course when a tumor grows in or around the eye; glaucoma, which is a disease that worsens over time and causes blindness while affecting the optic nerve; general injury or an infection inside the eye. There are two ways an eye might be removed, and one is the complete removal of the eyeball, which sounds like what you're describing. The other is the removal of just the gel-like substance in the eye. Fact of the matter is it isn't that "uncommon" for an eye to be completely removed, as long as the setting makes it clear that there is no hope in trying to save the eye from whatever injury it sustained. After removal, the patient has to take antibiotics; naturally this is a fantasy setting so I'm not sure how that would work. Also after removal, the eye socket will change shape, so adjustments to the prosthetic/glass eye would have to be made. And of course eye patches are always an option.

We're probably talking a bad injury that gets infected.

This character isn't human (dragon rather) so...I don't know about the antibiotics, but dragons are tougher than humans.

So, would you *have* to have a glass eye or prosthetic if the eye were removed?

 

[mulierrex]

Let me take back what I said about glass eyes and antibiotics. Because of the era (I assume it's primitive compared to today), they'd likely have to cauterize it shut to prevent infection (which would very likely lead to death).

(sorry, not sure if you saw)

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

(sorry, not sure if you saw)

Ouch. So...hmm...I don't know...

 

[mulierrex]

That could be done with something like a red hot iron rod, though that would come with its own pain. If there's some sort of pain reliever in your world, that could help, but otherwise...

 

[SeverinR]

I believe mostly they removed the eye, cauterized it, then a patch was used to cover the bad eye.
The eye is warm, wet and has limited ability to fight infections, so once infected it would have to come out quickly (if they didn't have antibiotics.)
Maybe the rich people might be able to have a glass eye, but probably not the ordinary citizen.