A man was left with a barbed stinger lodged in his eyeball after being stung by a bee.
It turned out that the small tip was piercing the 55-year-old man’s cornea, causing the vessels to burst.
3
3
The terrifying discovery was made after he visited his local eye clinic with worsening vision and pain in his right eye.
He had been stung two days earlier while walking near a beehive and went to the emergency room.
The man, who did not work with bees, had the stinger removed, but remains of the barb remained.
About 48 hours later, he returned to the hospital complaining that he couldn’t see properly and that his eye hurt.
Tests revealed that vision in the right eye was limited to simply counting fingers and intraocular pressure was 16 mmHg.
According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), the normal range is between 10 and 20.
An examination under a specialized microscope with bright light discovered the tiny object embedded in the tissue between the iris and sclera, or the white part of the eye.
It was discovered that the patient was suffering from conjunctival injection – inflammation and dilation of the blood vessels that irrigate the thin, transparent membrane.
He also had a swollen cornea, known as inferior corneal edema, and hyphema, or bleeding inside the eye.
Jeweler’s forceps were used to remove the remaining stinger and he was given antibacterial eye drops and topical steroids.
At a follow-up visit after five months, visual acuity in the right eye improved to 20/25.
Talia Shoshany and Zeba Syed, ophthalmologists at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, wrote in The New English Journal of Medicine: “Ocular bee stings warrant referral to an ophthalmologist due to the severe inflammation that can result from the injury, as well as the possibility of a retained stinger in the eye.”
‘SAW TYPE STRUCTURE’
Bee and wasp stings to the eyes are rare, but they do happen.
Typically, these can be treated with a simple cold compress, says the AAO.
However, if you are stung on the eyelid or cornea, seek urgent medical attention.
“Bee stingers contain toxins that can cause inflammation,” warns the AAO.
“The stingers are also sharp, with a saw-shaped structure, which makes them difficult to remove completely.”
The stingers are used to deliver venom.
In bees, they are barbed, meaning they turn through the tissue and come away from the bee, whereas in wasps they are straight and do not come away.
The barb is part of what makes a bee sting painful and why removing bee stingers takes a little effort.
Ivan Schwab, a cornea specialist at UC Davis Eye Center in Sacramento, California, said, “If you are stung on the cornea, go to the emergency room immediately.”
In some people, the bites can cause anaphylaxis – a serious and potentially fatal allergic reaction.
Other reports of bizarre medical cases
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
