Mary shouted suddenly, “Mummy! Mummy! I have swallowed a piece of bone!” Mary had earlier been cautioned to eat slowly because the meal contained fish with tiny bones.  Now she was distraught and weeping. “Try and swallow a big lump of eba and the bone will go down immediately” said her mum.

She did and initially felt some relief but the pain soon returned in full force. The following day, Mary was adamant that the bone was still stuck in her throat. Her mother assured her that the bone had gone down and the soreness in her throat would soon go too. And three days later it was gone!

“Sir, I thought we were going to talk about the eye but now you are taking us to the throat. Is there a connection between the throat and the eye?” said Bosun, a foundation member of the United for Vision Club. “Yes Bosun,” I replied, “but I am not going to talk about that now. If only you can be patient, you will see where I am going soon.

“I am going to tell you a story about Kayode, a hardworking polytechnic student, who while helping his mother to sweep cobwebs from the ceiling in their house got some dust into his eye. It was painful and the pain was more every time he tried to open his eye. Kayode’s older brother ran to him. “Open your eye and let me help you flush it out with some water,” he said. As much as Tunji tried, only very little water got into Kayode’s eye. He could not open the eye on account of the pain. In frustration, Tunji poured the water over Kayode’s face.”

“Kayode continued to suffer intense pain; his eye was pouring out water and he couldn’t open it. He was whisked off to the ophthalmologist (the eye medical doctor). His eyelids were now swollen. The ophthalmologist instilled some eye drops and he was able to open the eye for examination. There was an ulcer (sore) on the cornea and a tiny piece of foreign body was found stuck to the inner surface of the upper eyelid. This was gently removed, appropriate antibiotics instilled; the eye was dressed and bandaged.”

“Kayode felt some relief but this was short-lived and soon was complaining of pain any time he tried to move the eye. He felt that the foreign body was still there and wanted to go back to the ophthalmologist.’

“No we won’t go back tonight,” said Tunji. “Where did you put your ears when the doctor was talking to you? Can you remember what he said, that even though he had removed a foreign particle from the eye, the particle had scratched the cornea leaving an ulcer? He said that the ulcer would give exactly the same sensation as the removed foreign particle. Let us wait for your appointment with him tomorrow morning.”

“I can now tie your story about swallowing a piece of fish bone with the foreign body in the eye,” said Bosun. “Even though the fish bone had gone down into the stomach when Mary swallowed the lump of eba, it had scratched her throat and left an ulcer there which gave exactly the same sensation as a foreign body.” “That is brilliant!” I said. It was Segun’s turn to ask a question. “What would have happened if the foreign body had not been removed from the eye in good time?” “The consequences could be calamitous. The particle would continue to rub on the cornea and the ulcer would get deeper and deeper and may perforate leading to contents of the eyeball coming out. Infection may also set in. Once any of these happens, blindness is almost inevitable.”

“Sir, I had an ulcer at the back of my hand about two years ago which healed leaving a scar. Will the corneal ulcer leave a scar too?” asked Ola another member of United for Vision Club. “Yes,” I said. “If the ulcer is deep it will heal with a scar which will make the area of the cornea look white. To the untrained eye it may be confused with a cataract especially if it is central and affecting the vision. If on the other hand, the ulcer is very superficial, there will be no scar and vision will not be affected.”

PHCN struck again throwing us all in darkness and terminating our discussion abruptly. Oh PHCN when shall we get respite from thee!

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