A Canadian woman was left with her car keys in her face after a friend threw them at her in a “freak accident.”
Renée Lariviere, 24, was about to leave her apartment complex in the northern town of Sudbury Canada to go to McDonald’s when one of her friends threw her car keys at her.
But when Renée reached for the car key, she somehow stabbed herself in the face, the triangular rim poking through her flesh and settling an inch and a half deep into her nasal cavity.
Horrifying photos show the metal of the key disappearing into Renée’s cheek, causing the handle to protrude awkwardly, while an X-ray shows it buried deep beneath her eyeball.
Renée Lariviere, 24, was left with her car keys in her face after a friend threw them at her in a ‘freak accident’
Horrifying photos show the metal of the key disappearing into Renée’s cheek, leaving the handle sticking out awkwardly, while an X-ray shows it buried deep beneath her eyeball
Renée Lariviere, 24, was about to leave her apartment complex in the northern Canadian city of Sudbury to go to McDonald’s when one of her friends threw her car keys at her
Renée said that at first she didn’t believe the key had pierced her face because the adrenaline kept her from feeling any pain.
But after looking in the mirror and seeing the key stuck in her cheek, Renée’s first fear was blindness.
The group of panicked friends called emergency services and minutes later an ambulance arrived to take Renée to Health Sciences North Hospital.
Renée, who works for a landscaping company, said doctors and nurses were “amazed” by the “accidental accident” and are now using photos of her as an example to prove that “anything can happen.”
She said, “I felt a pressure, but it felt like I had just been hit [with the keys] in the face, as if I missed my catch.
My friend looked at me and said, “Oh my God, don’t move,” and he started to panic.
An x-ray showed how the key lodged an inch and a half deep in her nasal cavity
“I think the adrenaline is pumping, so you don’t feel it right away. I actually didn’t believe him, so I went to the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror.
‘I was scared. My concern was my eye.’
Renée added, “I don’t care about a scar. Scars, if you take good care of them, will disappear. That was not my concern. My concern was: ‘Will I be able to see?’.
“It felt like there was constant pressure, like heavy pressure, like something heavy was going on [my] face.
“The doctors there were stunned. Doctors from different departments came to see because they couldn’t believe it.
‘I had one of them come and take pictures so he could show them to his students. He was an emergency room doctor, so he tried to show [them] that anything can happen.’
Renée was immediately seen by medical professionals when she arrived at the hospital, who gave her a CT scan and called a plastic surgeon to remove the key and stitch the wound.
Renée said the surgeon confirmed the key had buried itself in her nasal cavities.
She has since made a full recovery with no complications and no scars.
Renée was immediately seen by medical professionals when she arrived at the hospital, who gave her a CT scan and called a plastic surgeon to remove the key and stitch the wound. She has since made a full recovery with no complications and no scars.
Now Renée thinks people should be more careful in their daily lives as she admits that incident was a ‘near miss’.
Renée said, “Looking at it now, I would think that couldn’t even happen.
‘What are the chances of that happening, or [it’s] just dumb luck I guess because there’s some luck that nothing bad actually happened.
“It was a near miss. Had it hit anywhere else, it could have done quite a bit of damage.
“I didn’t lose my sight at any point, but I was scared of where they were [would] take it out, or that if I moved a certain way it would hit something. But luckily that didn’t happen.
“It was a relief when they got the CT scan results back and said everything was fine.
“I definitely think people should be more careful. Accidents happen all the time with Fluke and I don’t think we realize it.
“We are so busy with our daily lives and we don’t realize how many things can happen every day and how much they can hurt us.”