"There is not enough awareness — many people were born like me"
Or Gavriel, 30, from Yavne, has shared a candid video removing her prosthetic eye to raise awareness about microphthalmia. Her goal is to show others in similar situations that they are not alone.
Or Gavriel, 30, from Yavne, kept her secret for 30 years, but recently decided to reveal it: she published a video showing herself removing her prosthetic eye. According to Or, the goal was to raise awareness about the condition and make people living in similar situations feel they are not alone. In a short time, the video gained wide exposure, and dozens of parents, teenagers, and people with similar stories reached out to her.
"When my mother was pregnant, she contracted CMV," Or tells mako Health. "It is a virus from the herpes family, and in my case, it caused microphthalmia — a condition where the eye did not develop. I do not see with my right eye, so I wear a prosthesis, which is actually a cosmetic cover. Since I was born, this has been my reality."
The CMV virus can cause various injuries to the fetus, including damage to vision or the brain. "In my case, it damaged the development of the eye," Or says. She decided to publish the video because she felt that people living with a prosthetic eye are almost never talked about. "There is not enough awareness of this. There are many people who were born like me, and there are those who lost an eye as a result of an injury or during the war. I wanted people to understand that we live normal lives, and for those dealing with this to feel they are not alone."
"Girls told me the video gave them strength"
The reactions were not long in coming. "Many parents of children with the same problem reached out to me. Also, girls wrote to me saying they did not have the courage to talk about it or reveal themselves. They said the video gave them strength." Or says that this situation never prevented her from doing what she wanted. "When I was a child, they asked if I could see through the prosthetic eye; today they ask how I drive and do day-to-day things. Children just don't understand, but it never limited me."
Virus from the herpes family
CMV is an abbreviation for Cytomegalovirus. As Or noted, this virus belongs to the herpes family, along with diseases like shingles, cold sores, chickenpox, mononucleosis, and roseola.
Dr. Omer Weitzner, a specialist in obstetrics, gynecology, and high-risk pregnancy at the Meir Medical Center of the Clalit group, explains that there is no requirement to perform a CMV test at the beginning of pregnancy, though women may be sent for a test to check for past exposure. "If you are positive, meaning you had CMV in the past (even if you didn't notice it), the risk of infecting the fetus is very low. If you are negative — and have never contracted CMV — the risk is higher, so it is recommended to be monitored during pregnancy," the doctor explains.
It turns out it is quite easy to contract CMV — the virus is transmitted through close contact (such as kissing and sexual relations), and through body fluids and secretions: nasal mucus, saliva, urine, and feces. Therefore, the population at risk includes women employed in daycare centers, mothers of small children, or those working in the healthcare system. Children bring CMV from nurseries and schools, so mothers or caregivers who change diapers and kiss little ones are very exposed. As long as there is a previous infection in their past, the risk of secondary infection is low, but if not, the risk increases significantly.
