Germiston man survives four days with knife blade lodged in his cheek

An unnamed Germiston man has warned others not to jump casually into drunken fights after he survived a stabbing that could potentially have been fatal.

Doctors at a hospital in Germiston were surprised when an X-ray of the man's face revealed a 10-centimetre knife blade lodged underneath his eye. The man had complained only of a headache and slight pain on the left side of his face, but "didn't believe" that he had been stabbed until he was shown the scans. 

The man was referred to Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, where a team of doctors, including an ophthalmologist and maxillofacial surgeons, worked to remove the blade from his face while causing the least amount of damage as possible. The man was at the hospital for three days before having surgery to remove the foreign object.  

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Extensive examination and scans by the doctors established that there was no substantial damage to blood vessels in the man's face and head, which is remarkable for this kind of injury. 

In a report following the surgery, the man said that though he made the decision to jump into the fight to help his friend, he takes full responsibility for the situation: "By sharing my story with you I want to make sure you don't play hero when someone is carrying a knife or a gun. Imagine if that was a bullet that went through my skull‚ I would have been dead on that same day."

The man recovered quickly and was cleared to be discharged two days after the surgery. 

Image: Public Domain Pictures

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