A teenager’s eye “exploded like a grape” in a car accident when the sun blocked her vision just meters from her school.
High school student Kylie Dean was driving to a marching band performance in September, but her mother, Kelly Dean, said Kylie was “dazzled” by the sun, causing her to gently “roll” into the car in front of her. at a stop sign.
Although the crash was at low speed (less than 10 mph) and the impact was light, Kylie was sitting very close to the steering wheel due to her small stature (just 5 feet tall).
This caused him to hit his head on the steering wheel, which “shattered” his right eye socket into pieces.
Doctors said his eye exploded “like a grape thrown against a wall.”
Kylie Dean was taken to hospital after her accident, which ‘destroyed’ her right eye socket
The teenager arrived at the hospital covered in blood and with a bruise on his right eye.
The collision caused the 18-year-old to suffer damage to her iris (the colored part of the eye) and tear her tear duct.
Kyle also had a broken nose, broken teeth and facial injuries.
Kelly said an alarm on her phone alerted her to her daughter’s accident and she immediately went to the scene.
When she found her daughter, the mother of four said she and the white Chevrolet Trax she was driving were covered in blood and she feared her daughter would die.
Kelly said: ‘I had just left the house and was down the street. Where we live is at the top of a valley, so you have to go through the valley to get to school. There’s not much to block the sun and she was blinded.
“She was stopped at a traffic light and there were cars in front of her and behind her. She got a little disoriented by the sun and thought the lights had turned green and she had gotten into the car in front of her. She was barely going 10 mph.
“It was at such a slow speed that the damage to the car was minimal. It was a fender bender. He had his seat belt on, but since he’s only five feet tall, he sits very close to the steering wheel.
‘Even though the crash was at such a low speed, the impact when his head went forward, his right eye socket almost aligned perfectly with the steering wheel. It was a strange accident.
Kelly added: ‘(When I approached the scene), she was covered in blood. He had his face covered, his arms, his pants and he was inside the car.
‘At that moment, I one hundred percent thought she was going to die. Even though I know she’s okay now, when I close my eyes, when I close my eyes, I still see her covered in blood.’
Kylie was rushed to Akron General Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, in an ambulance and quickly underwent emergency surgery to close her eye.
Even though Kylie was released from the hospital five days later, she still couldn’t see out of her right eye.
The future university student will need ocular prostheses manufactured by a specialized company in Germany and dental implants will be placed to recover her sight and smile.
Kelly has now created a GoFundMe page to help raise the estimated $30,000 needed for Kylie’s plastic surgery. He said not all procedures are covered by his insurance since some, such as dental implants, are classified as cosmetic.
Because the accident was at such a low speed, Kylie’s car did not sustain much damage.
Kylie was rushed to Akron General Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio and underwent emergency surgery to close her eye.
Before undergoing surgery, Kylie underwent an MRI and ultrasound where doctors confirmed that her right eye had “broken.”
They said his injuries were “one in a million” due to the low impact of the accident and suspected his facial trauma was caused by hitting the steering wheel.
Kelly said: ‘They said all the bones in his orbit (in his right eye) were shattered.
‘(The doctor) couldn’t even tell me the number of breaks. I was completely destroyed. He had a broken nose and a cut on his face from the inner corner of his eye.
“They said it was a rare one-in-a-million accident.
“At surgery, the ophthalmologist said his eye was like if you took a grape and threw it against a wall, it was almost like it imploded.”
After her operation, Kylie spent five days in hospital in ‘excruciating’ pain and will have to undergo two more surgeries to check that her eye is healing properly.
Kylie also suffered injuries to her cheek and teeth and will need dental implants.
Kylie still can’t see out of her right eye, but doctors saw no evidence that the retina, the part of the eye that sends visual signals to the brain, had been torn.
If this is still in place, doctors will be able to restore her vision, but her mother said the teen will have to have prosthetics implanted because her iris and lens “disappeared.”
An iris prosthesis is an artificial substitute that is surgically implanted to replace a damaged or missing iris. And a prosthetic lens is intended to color or mask an eye that has been damaged or disfigured.
Kelly said getting Kylie the money to go ahead with plastic surgery would mean “everything” to her daughter and give her a better future.
She said: ‘She’s only 18. This is the beginning of his life and he needs his teeth removed. She plays music and needs the structure in her mouth.
‘We have good insurance, but it doesn’t cover dental implants at all as it is considered cosmetic surgery and not a necessity. This will cost at least $20,000 in dental payments.
‘After that, they can measure the good eye on the left side. These measurements can then be sent to a company in Germany that makes prosthetic eyes.
“His right eye and muscles would have to learn to see again and use them, but there is hope.”
Kylie will have to undergo two more surgeries to check that her eye is healing properly and will have prosthetic eyes implanted.
The teenager hopes to raise funds to undergo dental implants so she can continue playing music.
The teen’s mother added: “It would mean the world to her to get enough funds to go ahead with the surgery.”
“(Music) is everything she is and everything she has worked to become and without (plastic surgery), she loses that.”
“I just want to give this back to her and her future.”
Kylie had only passed her driving test a month and a half before the collision occurred and this significantly disrupted her senior year.
The avid musician said she never thought she would suffer such traumatic injuries from the low-impact accident and that raising funds for the surgery would help her get her life back.
Kylie said: ‘When I first crashed, I didn’t even know I was injured. I am very surprised that it was such a serious injury.
‘Having the GoFundMe and getting the money for the procedures would allow me to go back to how I was before the accident.
‘I have lost a lot because of that. “I just want to be able to do everything I was doing again.”
Kylie added: “If I don’t get the implants and plastic surgery, I won’t be able to play instruments again, act again, or drive.”
‘It’s really important for my future and my life right now. It’s all I do and it will be all I will do.”