A MAN was left with a barbed stinger lodged in his eyeball after being stung by a bee. The tiny spike was found to be stabbing the 55-year-old's cornea, causing vessels to burst. The horrifying discovery was made after he visited his local ophthalmology clinic with worsening vision and pain in his right eye.
He had been stung two days earlier while walking near a bee hive and had gone to A&E . The man, who did not work with bees, had the stinger removed, but remnants of the barb remained. Some 48 hours later, he went back to hospital complaining that he couldn't see properly and his eye hurt.
Tests revealed vision in his right eye was limited to simply counting his fingers, and the intraocular pressure was 16mmHg. According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), a normal range is between 10 and 20. An examination under a specialised microscope with a bright light then discovered the tiny object embedded in the tissue between the iris and the sclera, or the white of the eye.
The patient was found to be suffering from conjunctival injection - inflammation and dilation of blood vessels that supply the thin, clear membrane. He also had a swollen cornea, known as inferior corneal edema, and hyphema, or bleeding inside the eye. Jeweller's forceps were used to remove the stinger remnant and he was prescribed topical antibacterial and steroidal eye drops.
At a follow-up appointment after five months, the visual acuity in his right eye had improved to 20/25. Talia Shoshany an.
