Doctors in Yakutsk found a germinated seed growing inside a 42-year-old welder’s eye. Its root had penetrated nearly 3mm into the conjunctiva.
A man discovered a plant growing inside his eyeball after suffering months of blinding headaches and double vision. Doctors were astonished to find a germinated seed inside the eye of 42-year-old Maxim Sleptsov, which had taken root in the delicate white tissue.
When surgeons removed the sprouted seed, they found its roots had already anchored themselves nearly an inch deep, according to reports.
The discovery came after the Russian national suffered intense bouts of inflammation, double vision and crippling headaches. For Maxim, a welder and plumber from Siberia, the ordeal began during an extended summer trip to the remote Abyysky district, where he was visiting a friend to fish and pick berries.
“A branch caught me in the eye. It whipped across my face,” he said. “My eye was itchy and painful, as if I’d bruised or scratched it. It was watering and red.”
After rinsing his eye and removing a small piece of bark, he thought the matter was over. But unknown to him, a small seed remained lodged in his eye.
He endured four months of agonising headaches and deteriorating sight. When the pain grew unbearable, he realised the nearest eye hospital was hundreds of miles away across one of the world’s remotest regions. “I was suffering from constant migraines. I woke in the mornings with a terrible headache,” he said.
His eyesight worsened and he had problems seeing from both eyes. Once he returned to the regional capital Yakutsk, he rushed to the Emergency Optometry Centre, where doctors made the shocking discovery.
They found the seed had developed a tiny root penetrating the conjunctiva, the delicate membrane covering the white of the eye. Ivan Lutskan, chief physician, said, “Most surprisingly, it had sprouted, and its root had actually penetrated the conjunctival tissue.”
Ophthalmologist Elizaveta Karpova removed the minuscule sprouting seed using an injection needle under local anaesthetic. “I had never encountered a case like this in my practice before. The seed’s root had reached approximately 3mm in length,” she said.
Maxim, whose headaches have vanished, said, “They removed a seed that had already begun to put down roots. I was so relieved that nothing else mattered.”