Mr. Yan is 54 years old and is an authentic Ningbo native. Lately, his left eye has been uncomfortable, red, tearful, and occasionally tingling, as if he had been poked by a needle.
Originally wanted to boil his own eye drops to see, but the result was really unbearable, Mr. Yan went to the local Mingzhou Hospital of Zhejiang University.
(Image source: Internet)
Zhou Guping, chief physician of the Department of Ophthalmology, said: "When I checked with a slit lamp during the outpatient clinic, there were small bugs swimming, and when I told him, the patients themselves were shocked. ”
Zhou Guping opened Mr. Yan's eyelids with a eyelid hook, and through careful rummaging, in about 3 minutes, he used a small medical clip to clip out 3 small white and thin bugs and eggs.
Zhou Guping said: "These small bugs are very flexible, they can swim around when they touch them, ranging from about 1 to 2 centimeters per day, and they are as thick as sewing threads." But only in the patient's left eye, there is no infection in the right eye. ”
After laboratory testing in the hospital, it was learned that the bug is called conjunctival sucking nematode.
This is a parasite that parasitizes in the conjunctiva of dogs or cats, and adult worms mainly parasitize the conjunctival sac and tear ducts of dogs, cats and other animals, and occasionally parasitize the eyes of humans, rabbits and other animals. This disease is most prevalent in Asia, so it is also called Oriental Eyeworm Disease.
Zhou Guping Introduction:
Patients infected with such parasites may have no obvious symptoms in the clinical manifestations, or have a foreign body sensation in the eyes, and have symptoms such as itching, pain, photophobia, lacrimation, pain, and increased secretions, and generally have no visual impairment.
If it is an infant, it is not afraid to open its eyes, and it is always accustomed to scratching the eyes with your hands. Parents carefully observe the child's eyes and can find small white bugs crawling in the eyes.
Severe cases can also occur severe infection, conjunctival hyperemia, the formation of small ulcers, corneal opacification, eyelid valgus, etc. If the parasite is in the anterior chamber of the eye, the patient may have a sensory shadow of filamentous movement, and the ciliary body is hyperemia, tears are cloudy, intraocular pressure is increased, pupillary dilatation, vision loss, etc.
"When I heard that there were bugs swimming in my eyes, everyone thought it was terrible, and they thought that such a small bug was not easy to find. In fact, this problem is still very easy to diagnose, and as long as the timely treatment generally does not have any side effects, eye redness, stinging these clinical symptoms can disappear after removing the worm, the prognosis is very good," Zhou Guping said, "but if the worm stays in the eye for too long, repeated friction leads to cornea damage, or may leave clouds and mildly affect vision." Therefore, once the eye discomfort occurs, it is still necessary to go to the ophthalmology department of the regular hospital as soon as possible. ”
In fact, this is not the first time that Zhou Guping has discovered this kind of disease, three years ago he helped an infected female patient to clip 3 live worms out of his eyes.
Why do parasites appear in the eyes?
Through exchanges with Mr. Yan, Zhou Guping speculated that the source of infection may be Mr. Yan's dogs in the countryside.
Zhou Guping suggested that people who own pets must pay attention to personal hygiene, regularly check the body, bathe, deworm the pet, and wash their hands in time after holding the pet. At the same time, after having children or the elderly in close contact with pets, we should pay attention to the cleanliness and hygiene of the eyes, and if there is any discomfort in the eyes, you should go to the hospital as soon as possible to find out the cause.