A six-year-old boy, whose eyes were gouged out, is cuddled by his mother at a hospital in Taiyuan, Shanxi province on Sept. 3, 2013.
A Chinese boy who had his eyes gouged out last month by a crazed woman may have his vision restored thanks to eye specialists in Hong Kong.
Eye expert Dennis Lam and his team have offered to give the boy years of treatment free-of-charge. “When I heard about [the attack] I was really angry, very upset. I asked myself if I can help,” Lam told AFP.
The boy, known as Bin-Bin, went missing last month after playing near his family home in China’s northern province of Shanxi. His parents found him hours later covered in blood. The child’s eyes were recovered nearby.
Lam hopes to restore up to 40% of the boy’s vision using prosthetic eyes and an electronic sensory system. Cameras in the eyes would detect different objects and send signals to an electric pulse generator attached to Bin-Bin’s tongue, helping him to recognise shapes. The technology is already in use in Japan and Europe.
Once Bin-Bin’s parents have given their consent, doctors could begin the treatment at an eye hospital in Shenzhen within weeks, Lam said. Local police have identified the boy’s aunt, who committed suicide on Friday, as the suspected attacker, according to Chinese media reports.
[AFP]