Medical management of self-enucleation
J. A. Khan, L. Buescher, C. H. Ide and B. Pettigrove
Self-enucleation or oedipism is a specific manifestation of psychiatric
illness distinct from the milder forms of self-inflicted ocular injury. In
this article, we discuss the previously unreported medical complication of
subarachnoid hemorrhage accompanying self-enucleation. The diagnosis was
suspected from the patient's history and was confirmed by computed
tomographic scan of the head. This complication may be easily missed in the
overtly psychotic patient. Specific steps in the medical management of
self-enucleation are discussed, and medical complications of
self-enucleation are reviewed.
