Ken Paxton Has Suffered More Eye Injuries Than the Average Person

For Ken Paxton, the road to Attorney General of Texas has been marked by many speed bumps. Although he began his life in North Dakota, he spent much of his childhood moving around, thanks to his father, who was in the United States Air Force. The Paxton family lived in a trailer that would end up parked near whatever base at which the family patriarch was stationed. It had to be a bit unsettling, which was made worse by the fact that Ken was quite susceptible to injuries.

Before he was a teenager, Ken dealt with an eye injury so intense he nearly lost his vision. A few years later, he once again found himself in a hospital after suffering from yet another contusion to his orbital area. If you look closely at Ken, you can see that his right eyelid droops slightly over his eye. What happened to him? Here's what we know.

If there is one thing to know about Ken, it's that, according to his dad, when he plays, he plays to win. That's what the elder Paxton told the Houston Chronicle in June 2017 when Ken was facing charges of civil securities fraud, which were eventually dropped. Although Ken won that fight, he nearly lost another when he was just a kid.

When he was 12 years old, Ken was playing hide-and-seek with a bunch of pals when one of the boys threw a berry at his eye. Normally, this wouldn't be such a big deal, but the Paxton family insists that following the incident, the physician's assistant misdiagnosed him.

Ken was in the hospital for several weeks as medical professionals fought to save his vision. "I lost 30 or 40 pounds, so I couldn't walk when I got out of the hospital, so I had to learn to walk again, and then I had to fight my way back into staying in that grade," Ken told The Chronicle. In the end, doctors had to "prod his eye with needles and cut it open to remove the lens." He was left with two different-colored eyes and a constant smirk. Then, he got hit with another injury.

Six years after Ken's right eye was nearly destroyed, that area was once again the target of debilitating trauma. While he was a freshman at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, Ken was playing basketball when he took an elbow to the face. As bad luck would have it, the bones around his right eye were completely broken.

It's tough enough starting college, but Ken had to contend with surgery that involved wiring his skull back together. It's not exactly something one can hide very easily. He recalled returning to campus with a bruised and swollen face that garnered a ton of unwanted attention and lasted most of the year. His time at Baylor wasn't a complete wash as two years later, he was elected president of the student body and met his soon-to-be-wife.