In many cultures, a twitching eye is considered a bad omen, but we have various ways of dealing with it. For example, where I’m from, superstitious people make the sign of the cross three times around the eye, using the three fingers representing the Holy Trinity. Does it work? Probably not, but it beats violently slapping your own eye!
According to a popular Chinese saying, a twitching left eye brings wealth, while a twitching right eye brings disaster. Unfortunately for Mr. Le, a man from Wuhan in China’s Hubei province, his right eye had been twitching for several days, despite several attempts to calm it, including applying warm compresses.
Convinced that the twitching was a bad luck-inducing omen, Le became more and more anxious the more time passed. At one point, he became exasperated and started looking online for answers, and discovered a suggestion to slap his eye to drive away the twitching.
Chinese newspaper Changjiang Daily recently reported that Mr. Le slapped his right eye and the area around it repeatedly for three days, and although the twitching eventually stopped, he soon developed a much worse problem.
Le soon noticed that his vision had severely narrowed to the point where he could only see straight ahead, while his peripheral vision on both sides disappeared completely. Doctors only understood what had happened after the man told them about his unusual regimen for getting rid of twitching in his right eye.
Doctors diagnosed Mr Le with retinal detachment and scheduled him for emergency surgery. In the end, Le recovered his vision and doctors expect him to make a full recovery.
