Toddler's eye turns green as he loses sight after being kissed by someone with herpes

A mum has issued a warning after her toddler’s eye turned green and he lost his sight after being kissed by someone carrying the herpes virus.

Michelle Saaiman’s two year old son Juwan lost his vision after the common virus was transmitted to his eye by a relative.

The herpes virus is common

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is easily transmitted, and while some might think it is a sexually transmitted infection - although that’s a common variant of herpes - it’s as simple as a cold sore.

Unfortunately for the young boy, who lives in Namibia with his family, the virus can be transmitted by something as simple as a peck on the cheek.

One such incident let to a cold sore growing on Juwan’s eye, which eventually caused more problems.

Complications meant that Juwan was in danger of losing his eye altogether, and in need of an operation to save it.

His mom wants to raise awareness of the issue, as well as hoping to raise a bit of money to pay for his treatment in the process.

A simple exchange caused a life-changing issue

This horrific incident started in August 2024 when Juwan was just 16 months old.

He started with what his mother thought was just an eye infection, but it persisted and became worse, before he was eventually diagnosed with hermes simplex virus in his eye.

Both parents were negative for the virus, meaning it must have come from elsewhere, and was likely transmitted via a kiss from someone he knows.

Speaking to Metro, his 36-year-old mom said: "The doctor was telling me there’s a fever blister growing in my child’s cornea.

"I was literally looking at the doctor wondering whether it’s April 1, because I thought it was an April Fool’s joke."

She admits that she had ‘never in her life heard of a fever blister growing on someone’s cornea’.

The virus continued to get out of hand, with medication proving ineffective.

Juwan was left blinded and his cornea was damaged.

His mother continued: "By that time the herpes just caused so much damage to his cornea that he essentially just lost all feeling in the eye and he could not see anything. He was completely blind.

"It meant the brain did not recognise the eye anymore and stopped sending signals to the eye.

“The gel later protecting the eye evaporated and the eye dried out.”

In further bad news, Juwan’s eye developed a hole that kept bringing further infections, and he remains at risk of losing the eye completely.

In March 2025, it was reported that he was waiting on a surgery in South Africa to transfer nerves to the eye, hopefully restoring the connection with his brain.,

Whether his eyesight will ever be restored remains unknown.

His mom issued a warning about kissing babies

His mom says the parents have ‘made peace’ with the fact that he may never see out of that left eye, but wants to warn others of the potential risk.

She said: “I feel it necessary to make people understand why you should not kiss someone's baby.

“This is something that I've read a thousand times, but we've never really been too bothered about it - I mean, what's the worst that can happen, right? Wrong. I was so wrong.

“The moral of the story is don't let anyone kiss your baby. Such a silly virus caused so much trauma and damage, it's just not worth it.”

She and her husband admit to being ‘angry’ about the incident, and in the interview she said: "Both my husband and myself, we were just angry with whoever was so selfish to kiss my child in his face with an active fever blister."

However, she added: "Kisses come from a place of love.

“So whoever gave him this, I’m sure it wasn’t done intentionally or not with any idea to do him harm."

A fundraiser has been set up to help with the cost of Juwan’s medical care, as well as the time off his parents have from work.

You can donate here.

Featured image credit: Facebook