A 23-year-old woman had a CT scan to look into a long-running ear problem. The images turned up something far more surprising. Both of her optic nerves, the cables that carry visual signals from the eyes to the brain, ran freely through the open air spaces of her sphenoid sinuses, separated from the sinus walls that normally shelter them.
She had no eye symptoms. Even so, doctors at Damascus University in Syria say her anatomy could turn sinus surgery into a sight-threatening procedure. The team described the case this year in the International Journal of Surgery Case Reports, calling the bilateral variant exceptionally rare and high-risk.
