Fearing ‘bad luck’ omen, Chinese man repeatedly slaps twitching right eye, damaging vision

A superstitious man in central China suffered a retinal detachment after repeatedly slapping his twitching right eyelid, fearing it was an omen of misfortune. The belief stems from a popular Chinese saying: “A twitching left eye brings wealth, while a twitching right eye brings disaster.” The man, identified only as Le, lives in Wuhan in Hubei province. He had been troubled by a twitching right eyelid for several days. Resting his eyes and applying warm compresses brought no relief. Convinced...

By Zoey Zhang