CHENNAI: Just a week after a family succumbed to burns sustained in a fire triggered by a mobile phone blast when there was an LPG gas leak, a nine-year-old boy almost lost vision in both eyes on Friday when a mobile phone kept on charge exploded when he tried to attend a call.
Dhanush (9), third child of Etiyappan and Vennila from Maduranthagam in Kancheepuram district, suffered burn injuries in his hands, face and eyes after the mobile phone exploded when he tried to attend a call.
According to sources, the child, in class IV, was rushed to the Chengalpattu Government Medical College Hospital and then referred to the Government Kilpauk Medical College and Hospital here the same day.
Doctors at the KMC hospital noticed that the damage to the eyes was severe and, in turn, referred the child to Government Eye Hospital Egmore, on Saturday morning, where the child is undergoing treatment.
Speaking to Express, Dr Waheeda Nazir, Director and Superintendent of the Government Eye Hospital, Egmore said the cornea in Dhanush’s right eye was completely damaged and the left eye ball was torn.
Doctors have sutured the left eye ball and the child has now regained vision of 3 metre dimension. “We cannot comment about the possibility of his regaining vision on the right eye now. We immediately transplanted a cornea taken from a donor to repair damage to the right eye. The problem is that the child also developed a cataract on the same eye, for which another procedure is crucial,” the director said.
Meanwhile, doctors will also put a lens on the right eye once the cataract is removed and monitor it’s progress.
“But these things will take longer, at least a month’s time,” Dr Waheeda Nazir added.