Lets face it, eyes are a big part of our lives.
They express your emotions, whether you’re tired, and most importantly; they help you see and interact with the world around you. Most of us have also wondered what it’d be like to have different eye colours… a different coloured iris if we’re being specific. Now, most of us probably HAVEN’T wondered what it’d be like to have no iris… or consider the fact that the iris can move. The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) posted the photo as part of their weekly Image Challenge. They asked people to try to guess the condition depicted in the image given the following facts: “A 48-year-old man presented to the ophthalmology clinic with a 1-week history of pain, double vision, and blurred vision in his left eye. What is the abnormality depicted here?”
These are the options they gave: a separation of the iris, separation of the pupil, separation of the sclera (the white bit of the eye), separation of the lens, or is it a normal eye? I’m sure the patient wished it was the latter, but unfortunately the answer is that his iris was detached.
This was the picture originally used in the paper. The condition is known as traumatic iridodialysis, caused by a blunt-force injury a week before the image was taken. He was struck by a retracting bungee cord while securing objects to his motorcycle. Ouch. Iridodialysis is a serious condition but you’re not necessarily doomed if you somehow end up getting it. Depending on the extent of the damage, a detached iris can be healed with anti-glaucoma medicines. For more serious cases, surgical repairs are the go-to option.
