The unnamed man, who was addicted to crystal meth, was high on the drug when he mutilated himself, an anti-drugs conference has heard.
Member of Australian parliament Karen McNamara spoke out about the incident at the John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle, Australia, in a bid to raise awareness about the dangers of the drug known as ‘ice.’
The Liberal Party MP said: ‘There is nothing at all recreational about this drug.’
‘Let me tell you a story that demonstrates this…about a young boy taken into an emergency department for treatment who gouged out his own eyeballs and ate them.’
‘We have to get these kings of stories out to young people - this is not a recreational drug.’
The incident was witnessed by an emergency services officer, though no more details about the horrific injury could be determined.
MP McNamara was appearing at the Central Coast Ice Summit as part of the Australian war on drugs.
Meth is a growing problem in both Australia and New Zealand, the former finding it to be the biggest risk to communities of any illegal substance.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on the matter: ‘Ice is far more addictive than any other illicit drug. It does far more damage than any other illicit drug.’
‘The propensity for violence, the propensity to subsequent, very serious mental illness, the propensity to disfigurement which ice produces means that this is a drug epidemic way beyond anything that we have seen before now.’