Boy with rare skin issue finally sleeps with eyes closed

For the first time, seven-year-old Carter Bresee slept with his eyes closed.

The Nevada boy with a rare skin condition had life-changing eyelid and skin graft surgery last month in San Diego, the Fox5 news outlet reported on Tuesday.

Carter’s story that Fox5 first aired in May touched people so much that many ended up donating to help him with his medical bills.

“He slept until noon today. He got the best night sleep,” Shai Bresee, Carter’s mother, said in a video interview after the boy’s first night of being able to sleep with his eyes closed.

Carter was born with lamellar ichthyosis, which leads to the eyelids turning outward, according to his mother on the family’s GoFundMe page that was created in May. The effort raised more than US$46,000 as of Wednesday for the boy’s medical expenses. The rare condition prevents him from closing his eyes.

“He cannot blink, he sleeps with his eyes open and is often experiencing lots of pain and discomfort because of this,” she wrote.

Carter says the doctor took skin and placed it on his eyelid. “I couldn’t see on the first day but on the second day I could.”

For the full interview, watch the video above.

With files from Fox5’s Victoria Saha via CNN Newsource