Embarrassing Bodies

Caro visits Dr Christian at the clinic. For eight years Caro’s eyelid has been closed over. It started bleeding from the corner and has become progressively worse: lumpier, redder and it bleeds regularly. Dr Christian diagnoses it as arteriovenous malformation (AVM). This condition is essentially an overgrowth of blood vessels and can occur anywhere in the body. It’s very rare in the eyelid. Treatment is highly risky so close to the eye, so Dr Christian sends Caro to Mr Omar Durrani at the Birmingham Eye Hospital for more tests. Mr Durrani presents one option as being major surgery that would solve the problem but runs a 30% risk of damage to Caro’s eyesight. Caro goes for an angiogram from Dr Saleh Lamin. The procedure shows that her AVM can be treated without major risk to her eyesight, so Caro can now make a decision about what course of action to take, without the stakes being quite so high.