Karla Rugel

The case of a teenager who recovered vision after an acid attack, by going through complex oculoplastic surgery at IMO.

In two of these procedures, the surgeon, Dr Ramon Medel, managed to separate the eyelids, which had been stuck to the eye as a result of the attack, with a cul-de-sac reconstruction. A trichiasis procedure restored the normal position of the eyelashes (which had been growing back towards the eye and rubbing against the cornea) and the eyelids, which were folded inwards (entropion). Eye reconstruction after accidents or assaults are some of the most complicated surgical procedures in oculoplastics and often have dramatic aesthetic, functional and visual results. The Karla Rugel case aroused great media attention because of the human-interest story behind it, but it is just one of the many cases treated by the Orbital and Ocular Plastic Surgery Department of IMO.