December 03, 2007
No eye deer - an amazing brain injury:
Retrospectacle has found an amazing case of a five year-old boy who impaled his left frontal lobe on a deer antler after he tripped and fell while carrying it.
The business end of the antler (which was thankfully no longer attached to a deer) went through his eye socket and into his brain.
Luckily, the young lad made a full recovery with no loss of eyesight and no long term brain damage.
Brains of children (particularly those under the age of 8) can make recoveries from injuries that would be much more serious in adults.
This is because young brains are still very 'plastic'. In other words, they are still growing and re-shaping.
These recoveries can sometimes be quite astonishing. For example, as we've reported previously, some young kids can make a full recovery even when they've had half their cortex removed.
Interestingly, this child's injury from the deer antler is similar to an 'ice pick lobotomy', detailed in a fantastic Neurophilosophy article.
One difference, however, is while both the ice pick and the deer antler have entered the brain the same way, the ice pick would be moved side to side to cause damage over a much wider area.
Link to Retrospectacle on amazing deer antler injury.
