A TEEN’S eye “exploded like a grape” in a freak car crash when the sun dazzled her eyes distracting her momentarily from the vehicle in front.
High schooler Kylie Dean had been driving to school to perform in the marching band during her last homecoming game on Friday, September 20.
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But as she drove towards the campus, her mum Kelly Dean, 38, claims her daughter was dazzled by the sun, which caused her to gently “roll” into the car parked in front of her at a stop sign.
Despite the crash being at such a low speed of “under 10mph” and light impact, Kylie sits close to the wheel due to only being five foot so hit her head on the steering wheel.
The impact caused her right eye socket to “shatter” into pieces and doctors said her eye exploded “like a grape through at the wall”.
The collision caused the 18-year-old to suffer damage to her iris – the coloured part of the eye – and rip her tear duct.
Kylie also had a broken nose, broken teeth and suffered facial wounds.
Shocking photos show the teen sitting on a hospital bed covered in blood with a swollen, bruised right eye.
The veterinary assistant says she was alerted about her daughter’s crash by an alarm on her phone and immediately rushed to the scene.
When she found her daughter, the mum-of-four says both she and the white Chevrolet Trax were covered in blood and she feared her daughter would die.
Kelly said: “She had just left the house and was just down the street. Where we live it is on top of a valley so you have to go through the valley to get to school.
“There’s not a lot blocking the sun and she was blinded by it.
“She was stopped at a stop light and there were cars in front and behind her.
“She got a bit disorientated because of the sun and thought the lights had turned green and rolled into the car in front. She was barely going at 10mph.
“It was such a low speed so there was minimal damage to the car. It was a fender bender.
“She had her seatbelt on but because she is only five feet tall, she sits very close to the wheel.
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“Even though the crash was such a low speed, the impact when her head went forward, her right eye socket almost aligned perfectly with the steering wheel. It was a freak accident.”
Kelly added: ‘[When I approached the scene], she was covered in blood. Her face was covered, her arms, pants and it was inside the car.
“At that moment, I one hundred percent thought she was going to die.
“Even though I know she’s fine now, when I close my eyes, when I close my eyes, I still see her covered in blood.’
Kylie was rushed to Akron General Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio via an ambulance and quickly underwent emergency surgery to have her eye closed.
Despite Kylie being discharged from the hospital five days later, she was still unable to see out of her right eye.
The soon-to-be college student will need to have prosthetic eye parts made by a specialist company in Germany and have dental implants fitted to get her sight and smile back.
Kelly has now set up a GoFundMe page to help raise money for Kylie’s plastic surgery.
She said not all of the procedures are covered by their insurance as some, such as dental implants, are classed as cosmetic.
Before undergoing surgery, Kylie had an MRI and ultrasound where doctors confirmed her right eye had “ruptured”.
They said her injuries were “one in a million” due to the low impact of the crash and suspected her facial trauma was caused by her hitting the steering wheel.
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Kelly said: “They said all the bones in her orbital socket [in her right eye] were shattered.
“[The doctor] couldn’t even tell me the number of breaks. It was completely shattered.
“Her nose was broken and she had a gash down her face from the inner corner of her eye.
“They said it was a one-in-a-million freak rare accident.
“In surgery, the eye doctor said her eye was like if you took a grape and threw it against a wall, it was almost like it imploded.”
After her operation, Kylie spent five days in hospital in “excruciating” pain and will have to undergo two more surgeries to check her eye is healing correctly.
Still unable to see
Kylie is still unable to see out of her right eye, but doctors did not see any evidence the retina – the part of the eye that sends vision signals to the brain – had been torn.
If this is still attached, doctors may be able to restore her vision, but her mom said the teen will have to have prosthetics implanted because the iris and the lens are “gone”.
A prosthetic iris is an artificial substitute surgically implanted to replace a damaged or missing iris.
And a prosthetic lens is meant to colour or mask an eye that has been damaged or disfigured.
Kelly said getting Kylie the money to go ahead with the plastic surgery would mean “everything” to her daughter and give her a brighter future.
“She is only 18,” she said
“This is the beginning of her life and she needs to have her teeth. She is a music player and she needs the structure in her mouth.
“We have good insurance but they won’t cover dental implants at all as it is classed as a cosmetic surgery and not a necessity.
This is going to cost at least $20,000 (£14,936) in dental payments.
“After that, she will be able to have the good eye on the left measured.
“These measurements can then be sent off to a company in Germany who make prosthetic eye parts.
“Her right eye and her muscles would have to learn how to see again and how to use them but there’s hope.’
The teen’s mum added: “It would mean everything to her to get enough funds to go ahead with the surgery.
“[Music] is everything she is and everything she has worked to become and without [the plastic surgery], she loses that.
“I just want to give this back to her and her future.”
‘I have lost so much ‘
Kylie had only passed her driving test a month-and-a-half before the collision happened and it has significantly disrupted her senior year.
The avid musician said she never thought she would suffer such traumatic injuries from the low-impact crash and raising the funds for surgery would help her get her life back.
Kylie said: “When I first crashed, I didn’t even know I was injured. I’m super shocked that it was this severe of an injury.
“Having the GoFundMe and getting the money for the procedures would allow me to go back to the way I was before the accident.
“I have lost so much because of it. I just want to be able to do everything I was doing again.”
Kylie added: “If I don’t get the implants and plastic surgery, I won’t be able to play instruments again, or go back to acting or be able to drive.
“It’s really important for my future and life right now. It’s everything I do and will be everything I will do.”
