A five-year-old girl who was shunned as a monster has had her ‘piercing silver’ eyes removed.
Little Primrose Austin’s parents took the almost impossible decision to have her eyes taken away, after watching her suffer unbearable pain.
The youngster had a build-up of pressure and a retinal detachment in one eye, while the other shrank to half its size.
When Primrose’s dad Chris and mum Eryn, from Buford, Georgia, US, adopted the youngster from a Chinese orphanage in 2016, they were told she was blind due to untreated congenital glaucoma.
They were told the condition had caused her eyes to cloud over, and that she was potentially deaf.
Back at home in the States, tests revealed she had 6p25 deletion syndrome which caused her eye complications, unique brain structure, lack of muscle tone and other problems.
After Primrose woke up in ‘crisis’ eight months ago, 11 specialists were baffled by what was causing her agony – that was so intense that she cried for 16 hours a day.
An MRI revealed the extent of the damage to her eyes and her parents were forced to make the decision that would change her life.
Incredibly, since her eyes were removed, the youngster has made a miraculous recovery, starting to walk again and even learning a touch-based form of sign language to communicate.
Eryn, 35 and a full-time carer for her daughter, said: “It was like living in a constant nightmare, not knowing whether she would be okay.
“Doctors tried to eliminate her source of pain one by one, we were at the point where they had worked through most of the causes.
“It was an excruciating experience for us all, she was drenched in sweat, her body was dealing with such intense pain and her nervous system was going nuts.
“She was hurting herself by not eating or drinking, I had to force liquids into her mouth with a syringe to keep her hydrated.
“I was a heart-breaking decision to have her eyes removed but was 100 percent the right thing to do, we never imagined two weeks later how much she would have progressed.
“We were talking about life or death for Primrose, she was severely and critically ill.”
She added: “It was a miracle, two days after she was standing up for the first time in months, was smiling and has made progress in other areas.
“It’s like a whole new world is coming and it feels really good and positive, we think we will see a lot of changes in her.
“Teaching the world, she is worthy is the hardest part, as we are a society obsessed with perfection.
“Kids call her a ‘monster’ and run away screaming and crying.
“But she is beautiful even with her eyes looking different.”
The family first saw a picture of Primrose in 2014, and say her ‘striking silver’ eyes called out to them.