The BBC reports that Guo Bin, a young boy whose eyes were gouged out in a violent attack last August, has undergone a surgery for new prosthetic eyes:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vETv-iTj1i4[/youtube]
Police suspect Guo Bin’s late aunt was responsible, although the motive for the attack is unclear. Six days after the incident, she reportedly killed herself by jumping into a well.
Guo Bin has undergone a series of operations for the prosthetics to give him a natural appearance but these will not restore his vision.
His mother, Wang Wenli, told the BBC’s Juliana Liu that she wished she had found her son earlier.[Source]
Emily Tsang reports for the South China Morning Post that although Guo Bin’s behavior has changed after the attack, he has begun to accept his loss of vision and has made progress towards completing daily tasks:
Dr Fairooz Manjandavida, who oversaw the surgery, said the new Hong Kong-made prosthetic eyes have to be taken out for cleaning once a month, and changed once a year.
In as little as six months, the boy could be trained to use a navigation device – worn on the forehead or tongue – to capture images and translate them into electronic signals for his brain, Lam added. Bin-Bin has been undertaking some basic training designed for blind people to teach him some of the skills he will need to take care of himself.
In four short videos shown by Lam yesterday, the boy’s mother proudly told how he could now go to the toilet and change his clothes on his own.[Source]
