Abstract
Self enucleation is a rare form of self mutilation, occuring with paranoid delusions, as a result of drug-related toxic psychosis or in functional psychoses, especially schizophrenia. We report a case of self enucleation of a left eye in a 28 year old male.
The patient had no known past psychiatric disorders, he had removed the eye by a fork. On examination, the left completely enucleated globe was intact with a 4,5 cm long avulsed optic nerve.
CT scan demonstrated left orbit without the left globe and optic nerve, only haematoma and air were present. There were no intracranial complications.
The right eye was intact, its visual functions were normal. The patient was admitted to the psychiatric department and a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia was made.
In the management of such patients close co-operation between ophthalmologist, psychiatrist and neurosurgeon is important, as further self injury, including suicide is common.