A WOMAN has had her head tumour removed through her eye socket using keyhole surgery in a UK first.
Ruvimbo Kaviya, a 40-year-old nurse from Leeds, had a meningioma taken out from the space beneath her brain and behind her eyes.
According to Kaviya, the tumour was so painful it felt like "an electric shock" and sometimes made it difficult for her to do everyday activities like just brushing her teeth.
"It was the first time they were doing the procedure," she told the BBC.
"I had no option but to agree because the pain was just too much."
The operation took just three hours and Kaviya was able to walk home that day.
The nurse had double vision for three months after the operation, but afterwards, she returned to work and now has just a tiny scar by her eye.
In the past, this kind of tumour would have required brain surgery and involved taking a large part of the skull away.
"It's a hard-to-reach area, and this allows a direct access without any compromise of pressure on the brain," said neurosurgeon Asim Sheik.
"So it just reaches us in areas which were once thought to be inoperable, but now are accessible."
Thankfully, a model of Kaviya's skull was created ahead of the surgery, so the team could practice on it before the big day using 3D technology.
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