Surgical extraction of traumatic orbital mercury

Initial clinical observation of a 2-year-old boy whose right eyelid had been pierced by a glass thermometer 3 days earlier showed a scab-covered cicatrix and slight swelling in the eyelid. X-ray examination showed the broken thermometer tip, fine glass fragments, and mercury droplets beneath the eyelid and extending along the superior orbital margin. On surgical incision, glass fragments and the thermometer tip were found and extracted from the eyelid and orbital fatty tissue with forceps, and 70.3 mg of mercury droplets were readily removed from the same regions by suction via an elastic needle connected to an injection syringe. Blood mercury gradually rose from the normal range to a peak of 28.4 microg/dl 3 months after surgery, then declined during the following 7 months to a level of 15.1 microg/dl. No abnormality has been found in liver or renal function to present.