A freak accident saw an angler's lead weight fly through his eye socket and become embedded inside his cheek.
Darren Williams, 34, of Wrexham, had a five-hour operation to repair his shattered cheekbone with a metal plate.
The machine operator was on a fishing trip on Anglesey when his line became snagged and the weight flew up.
"I was so lucky - if it had been a few millimetres in the other direction then I would have lost my eye," he said.
<!-- E SF --> He is keeping the weight as a souvenir after doctors gave it back to him.
"It's my lucky weight now. I will carry it around with me," said Mr Williams, of Acrefair.
He was fishing with friends at Llyn y Gorse, near Llandegfan on Anglesey, when the freak accident happened on Saturday.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_east/4315748.stm