A 17-year old boy from Peru’s central Huanuco department gave a new meaning to a worm’s eye view when he arrived at the National Children’s hospital in Lima with a very swollen left eye.
Doctors soon discovered that a worm was responsible for the swelling after having been living in the boy’s eye for about a month. They were able to make the discovery after taking an MRI of the young man, whose name was not mentioned in media reports.
Ophthalmologist Carolina Marchena, explained how the worm posed serious risks for the boy’s health due to swelling near a sensitive part of the face known as the “triangle of death” or “danger triangle” from which infections can spread to the brain.
“The location of the worm from the lower lid, which was getting bigger, made the risks increase because the youth’s tissue was swelling in an area close to the sinuses that’s close to the delicate part which is the triangle of death [danger triangle of the face],” she said.
Marchena said they used a common culinary herb, basil, to lure part of the worm from the boy’s eye.
“Basil was used as a way of attracting the worm and due to the smell the worm came out [from inside eye] and that’s why we used it [the basil]. However, because of the size of the worm it was impossible that it would come out completely on its own. It just stuck a little part out, which was its head,” she said.
Once the head of the hungry worm poked out in search of the basil, doctors were able to use tweezers to pull it out in its entirety.
Due to the timely removal, the worm, which was three centimetres (one inch) long, did not cause any long-term damage, according to the Peruvian Correo Newspaper
Reuters