Stuff like this is fascinating, but it gives me a bit of a tight feeling in my innards:
When Liane Lefever complained to her doctor about a persistent ear ache, an examination found a much more serious problem: a brain tumor.
For many Americans, that diagnosis could have led to invasive surgery — including slicing open her skull — and a long recovery. But with an innovative procedure being pioneered by two doctors from Johns Hopkins Hospital, her tumor was removed through a small incision in her eyelid.
[…]
When the doctors told her they would enter the brain through her eyelid, she was most worried about her vision. But the procedure poses little threat of that, though she did lose some of her sense of smell because of the tumor’s location. She was wearing contacts again in three months and back at work at the family french fry business in several weeks.
[…]
Under the minicraniotomy, the eyelid is cut at a crease, and a quarter-sized piece of bone is removed just above the eyebrow. A computer-guided endoscope fitted with a camera leads surgical instruments to a tumor or a brain fluid leak needing repair. Once the work is done a few hours later, the bone is replaced and a small metal plate is used to hold it in place. A few dissolvable sutures close the eye lid and leave no visible scar.
Amazing!
And there’s even a life lesson or two here.
Here’s one: You can get to my brain through my eye. What am I allowing in?
.