Doctor finds live 'sweat bees' in Taiwanese woman's eye
- 5 years ago
KAOHSIUNG, TAIWAN — A woman in Taiwan who went in for a swollen eye got the shock of her life after her infection turned out to be live bees.
According to CTS, the whole thing began when the lady, surnamed He, felt something blow into her eye while visiting a relative's grave site with family in Kaohsiung.
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She assumed it was just sand, and rinsed her eye out with water. According to Apple Daily, the time she got home, her eye was swollen, and tears were streaming out.
He eventually ended up at the hospital, where a doctor checked her eyes out and found not one, not two, but four very much alive sweat bees under her left eyelid.
According to CNN, sweat bees measure a miniscule three to four millimeters and nest near graves and fallen trees. They feed primarily off nectar and pollen, but are also drawn to the salt in human sweat and tears.
They hardly ever charge into people's eyes though, and Fooyin University Hospital claims the operation to extract the little buggers out of Miss He's eye was the first in the world.
Apple Daily reports that the bees were taken out of He's peepers alive and fully intact. Had she rubbed her eyes earlier and caused the bees to rupture, it would've been much more serious.
As it is, the insects had given her cellulitis, a bacterial skin infection, and severe corneal erosion. Her eyesight is now the equivalent of 20-200 on the Snellen eye chart. But her central nervous system is thankfully unaffected, and she's expected to make a full recovery.
According to CTS, the whole thing began when the lady, surnamed He, felt something blow into her eye while visiting a relative's grave site with family in Kaohsiung.
________________
She assumed it was just sand, and rinsed her eye out with water. According to Apple Daily, the time she got home, her eye was swollen, and tears were streaming out.
He eventually ended up at the hospital, where a doctor checked her eyes out and found not one, not two, but four very much alive sweat bees under her left eyelid.
According to CNN, sweat bees measure a miniscule three to four millimeters and nest near graves and fallen trees. They feed primarily off nectar and pollen, but are also drawn to the salt in human sweat and tears.
They hardly ever charge into people's eyes though, and Fooyin University Hospital claims the operation to extract the little buggers out of Miss He's eye was the first in the world.
Apple Daily reports that the bees were taken out of He's peepers alive and fully intact. Had she rubbed her eyes earlier and caused the bees to rupture, it would've been much more serious.
As it is, the insects had given her cellulitis, a bacterial skin infection, and severe corneal erosion. Her eyesight is now the equivalent of 20-200 on the Snellen eye chart. But her central nervous system is thankfully unaffected, and she's expected to make a full recovery.