Inch-long nail pierces man's eyebrow in gardening accident

A rusty nail pierced a man’s forehead in a freak gardening accident.

The man was mowing his lawn when the mower ran over an inch-long nail that flicked up his face in Verona, northern Italy.

It missed his left eyeball by millimetres but still penetrated muscles in his eyelid, leaving him unable to open his eye.

The 58-year-old Italian man was taken to hospital with the wound, which the medics described as a lockdown injury.

After several scans, doctors removed the nail by gently twisting it until it fell out. The man’s eyesight was back to normal within 30 days.

Medics said he was very lucky not to go blind or lose his eye because of the accident.

The doctors linked his injury to spending more time at home.

“The Covid pandemic has been influencing our life in a way never seen before, with people needing to remain at home due to lockdown restrictions,” they said in the case report.

“In this scenario we are seeing an increase in the percentage of (facial injuries).”

The shocking and almost unbelievable injury was documented in the International Journal of Surgery Case Reports last month.