A mother has shared a cautionary tale for other families after experiencing disbelief at the doctors’ explanation of her 2-year-old’s sudden vision loss.
Residing in the UK, Michelle Saaiman recounted her shock when physicians informed her that her young son, Juwon, had developed a severe eye infection.
Juwon, who was just two years old, tragically lost vision in one eye despite initial reassurances from doctors that antibiotics would resolve the issue.
Michelle first took her son to seek medical advice in August 2024, when the child, then only 16 months old, exhibited symptoms that his parents assumed were related to a minor eye infection.
Reflecting on the situation via Facebook, Michelle detailed her realization that Juwon’s condition was more grave than originally believed, despite the prescribed antibiotics. 
She described: “Two days later, we noticed that there was something seriously wrong with the eye. It looked like something was growing inside his eyeball.
“We realized that he had no feeling in his eye, as he literally put his finger in his eye, scratching his eyeball, without even flinching.
“It’s the most traumatic experience to look at your baby, and literally see a 4mm open wound in his eye.”
Subsequent tests revealed that Juwon was suffering from a cold sore in his eye, caused by the herpes simplex virus.
Since both parents tested negative for the virus, medical professionals suspected that Juwon contracted it from someone else, possibly via a kiss from an individual with a cold sore.
Saaiman now advises parents to prohibit friends and family from kissing their infants to prevent similar occurrences. She explained that it took several weeks for doctors to manage Juwan’s infection, but the damage was irreversible by then.
In an interview with Metro regarding her son’s condition, Michelle stated: “By that time the herpes just caused so much damage to his cornea that he essentially just lost all feeling in the eye and he could not see anything. He was completely blind.
“It meant the brain did not recognize the eye anymore and stopped sending signals to the eye. The gel later protecting the eye evaporated and the eye dried out.”
The family is now optimistic that a surgical procedure to transfer nerves from Juwon’s leg to his eye socket might reconnect his brain to the eye.
Should this operation succeed, it may lead to Juwan qualifying for a cornea transplant, which holds the potential to restore his sight.