NEW ORLEANS - She was home alone, putting her dog in its kennel when it snapped at her and bit her right upper eyelid. Alyssa Kieff pulled back. The lid ripped off.
Kieff, 22, of Marrero, had the presence of mind to put the lid on ice. Then she had to wait an hour for an ambulance - her call was listed just as a dog bite, not a missing eyelid.
It took six hours for a team led by Dr. Kamran Khoobehi to sew the lid back together, rebuilding a damaged tear duct and connecting blood vessels with sutures only barely smaller than the capillaries themselves.
For the next four days, doctors kept medicinal leeches on Kieff's face. The squirmy invertebrates' job was to drain excess blood and improve circulation in the area until the reconnected blood vessels could function on their own. On Easter, nine days after the operation, she got the good news: It was a complete success.
Blink and the story will be gone...
Kieff, 22, of Marrero, had the presence of mind to put the lid on ice. Then she had to wait an hour for an ambulance - her call was listed just as a dog bite, not a missing eyelid.
It took six hours for a team led by Dr. Kamran Khoobehi to sew the lid back together, rebuilding a damaged tear duct and connecting blood vessels with sutures only barely smaller than the capillaries themselves.
For the next four days, doctors kept medicinal leeches on Kieff's face. The squirmy invertebrates' job was to drain excess blood and improve circulation in the area until the reconnected blood vessels could function on their own. On Easter, nine days after the operation, she got the good news: It was a complete success.
Blink and the story will be gone...