Bin-Bin recovering well after receiving eye implants
Guo Bin, the six-year-old Shanxi boy whose eyes were gouged out by an attacker last month, is recovering well from his eye operation and even picking up some English during his stay in hospital, his ophthalmologist says.
Guo Bin, the six-year-old Shanxi boy whose eyes were gouged out by an attacker last month, is recovering well from his eye operation and even picking up some English during his stay in hospital, his ophthalmologist says.
The boy, known as Bin-Bin, was given eye-socket implants on Tuesday, in preparation for prosthetic eyes that will give him a normal appearance, even though his vision is gone.
He learned to say 'good morning' and 'I love you' [in English]. He is really smart and even mimicked the accent
Bin-Bin was his lively self again and was able to eat, said Dr Dennis Lam Shun-chiu yesterday. His wounds were healing well, although he felt pain in his left buttock, from where a graft was taken for his left eye implant.
The boy even learned some English phrases from chief surgeon Dr Fairooz Manjandavida in an attempt to communicate directly with her, as she does not speak Chinese.
"He learned to say 'good morning' and 'I love you'," said Lam, founder of the C-MER Dennis Lam Eye Hospital in Shenzhen, who helped with the operation. "He is really smart and even mimicked the accent."
Bin-Bin's eyelids were sewn shut, and he will not be able to open them for a week, so as to protect his wounds. When he asked yesterday why his left buttock hurt, Lam told him it was to help his left eye.
He was too young to fully understand the operation, and knew only that it was for the good of his eyes, the ophthalmologist said.
His parents were naturally relieved the operation had gone smoothly. The family had flown in from Shanxi on Sunday to take up an offer of free treatment at Lam's hospital in Shenzhen.
They are expected to stay for another four to six weeks until the implants have stabilised, with tissues and muscles attaching to them so they can move like real eyes. Prosthetic eyes will then be placed in front of each implant to give the appearance of normal eyes.
In a four-hour surgical procedure on Tuesday, an artificial eyeball was placed in Bin-Bin's right eye socket. Tissue in his left eye socket was too scarred to hold an artificial eye, so a graft from his left buttock was used instead.
On August 24, a woman lured the boy from his family, drugged him and dug his eyes out. The boy was later found with his face covered in blood.
Police said Bin-Bin's aunt, a suspect in the case, committed suicide six days after the incident.
