A woman was nearly
blinded after forcing herself to blow her nose went terribly wrong.
She admitted herself
into the A&E department at Leicester Royal Infirmary when her eyes swelled
up so much that she couldn't see.
The 32-year-old said
she had "forcefully" blown her nose four hours before arriving at the
hospital with swollen eyes the size of golf balls.
Doctors said that if
her injury went untreated, she could have ended up blind due to pressure
swelling up and damaging the optical nerve.
Tests determined
that she had a condition called "orbital emphysema", swelling caused
by air that builds up in the soft tissue around the eyes.
She also had a
fracture in her nose - though it isn't known whether this was an existing
injury or not.
Her astonishing case
was documented in the BMJ Case Reports, which commented: "Although orbital
emphysema is usually associated with trauma, this case highlights a spontaneous
cause due to forceful nose blowing. "A spontaneous
nasal bone fracture has never been previously reported in the literature."
The woman was
treated with antibiotics to try and calm the swelling, which in some cases can
last up to two weeks.
Mirror
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