There’s something about the eyes. They betray what words try to hide. They hold stories—of love, loss, quiet surrender, and battles fought in silence. Some scream for help. Others, long silenced, just stare back—empty, resigned.

You don’t need to be an eye surgeon to see it. Life teaches you, if you’re paying attention. But for me, working with eyes every day has made it sometimes impossible not to notice. Some eyes I can heal. Others stay with me forever.

Like hers.

I saw a photograph the other day—two images of the same woman, taken 30 years apart. In the first, she was 12, a child in a war-torn country. Her eyes burned with defiance, daring the world to break her. In the second, she was middle-aged. The light was gone. Her stare was hollow, as if life had drained every last fight out of her.

And suddenly, I was back in my clinic, remembering another pair of eyes I never forgot.

She walked in one busy afternoon—no more than 20, an infant in her arms, a toddler clutching her kurta. Her dupatta covered most of her face, but her eyes… her eyes betrayed her. Bloodshot. Swollen. Dark with fear.

Before she could offer a rehearsed excuse, I asked her to lower the fabric. Deep finger marks wrapped around her neck—the imprint of hands that had tried to strangle her.

“Who did this to you?”

She whispered, “My husband.”

I urged her to report him. She let out a tired sigh. “I tried. He was out in hours. When I went home, he beat me worse. My family abandoned me. If I leave, where will I go with my children?”

I had no answer.

She wasn’t crying. She wasn’t even asking for help. Just another woman trapped in a war no one would ever see.

I treated her injuries and told her to return. She never did.

And now, as I look at that photograph of the woman whose light had faded, I wonder—did my patient meet the same fate? Did life break her too? Or did she somehow find her way out before the light in her eyes disappeared forever?

Because war-torn or not, women like her fight every day—battles unseen, stories unheard. And if you look closely enough, their eyes will tell you everything.

Suvi’s Scribbles