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Suh, Kim, and Lee: A Removed Chestnut Thorn after Corneal Incision
Case Report

Journal of the Korean Ophthalmological Society 2019; 60(5): 496-500.

Published online: 15 May 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3341/jkos.2019.60.5.496

A Removed Chestnut Thorn after Corneal Incision

Su Youn Suh, MD, Sung Il Kim, MD, Ji Eun Lee, MD, PhD

Department of Ophthalmology, Pusan National University Yangsan Hospital, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Yangsan, Korea.

Address reprint requests to Ji Eun Lee, MD, PhD. Department of Ophthalmology, Pusan National University Yangsan Hospital, Pusan National University School of Medicine, #20 Geumo-ro, Mulgeum-eup, Yangsan 50612, Korea. Tel: 82-55-360-2131, Fax: 82-55-360-2161, jiel@hanmail.net

Received 13 December 2018       Revised 2 January 2019       Accepted 18 April 2019

©2019 The Korean Ophthalmological Society

The Korean Ophthalmological Society

(open-access):

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

To report the surgical technique to remove a chestnut thorn through a corneal incision.

Case summary

A 54-year-old female visited our clinic complaining of a sudden foreign body sensation and conjunctival injection in her left eye after picking chestnuts 4 days prior to her visit. Visual acuity of both eyes was 1.0 and the intraocular pressures were within normal limits. Slit lamp examination revealed that a chestnut thorn had deeply penetrated the left corneal stroma and a small number of inflammatory cells were observed in the anterior chamber. There was no corneal defect stained with fluorescein and the Seidel test was negative. A corneal foreign body comprised of a chestnut thorn and its remnants was diagnosed and emergency surgery was performed. A partial corneal incision was made along the foreign body and the exposed foreign body was easily and completely removed. The patient was treated with topical antibiotics after surgery and no complication was observed during a follow-up period of 3 months.

Conclusions

In the case of a corneal foreign body comprised of a chestnut thorn, the foreign body with its remnants were easily removed by performing a partial corneal incision.

Keywords: Corneal trauma, Eye foreign body, Thorn

Figures and Tables

Figure 1

Slit-lamp ophthalmoscopic findings at initial visit. Chestnut thorn penetrated the cornea.

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Figure 2

Anterior segment optical coherence tomography at initial visit. The chestnut thorn penetrated the cornea deep into the Descemet's membrane.

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Figure 3

Surgical procedure to remove chestnut thorn through the corneal incision. (A) Schematic image of removing foreign body from the cornea. The foreign body was deeply embedded into the corneal stroma, and a partial corneal incision was made along the foreign body. (B) After corneal incision, the deepest part of the foreign body was reversely pushed to the outside of the cornea with the knife.

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Figure 4

Slit-lamp findings of cornea at 3 months after the surgery. Mild stromal opacity was remained at the previous foreign body site.

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Notes

This study was supported by a 2018 research grant from Pusan National University Yangsan Hospital.

Conflicts of Interest The authors have no conflicts to disclose.

References

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