Doctors have removed a
7cm-long wriggling worm from a man’s eye after he complains of it paining and
itching him for the last few years.
Jasubhai Patel, 70,
from Gujarat, India, desperately sought help from several doctors but couldn’t
be diagnosed with any illness.
Dr Milan Panchal, an
ophthalmologist at Narayan Hospital and Research Centre in Bharuch, carried out
a microscopic investigation on the man and found the parasite squirming in the
back of the conjunctival surface – the white skin portion in the eye.
The doctor warned that
the worm had the potential to permanently damage the man’s eyesight if it was
not removed immediately.
He added: “If the
worm was not removed on time, it could have blinded the man.
“There is also a
chance that the worm could have gone to his brain through bloodstream.
“A surgery would
have needed to remove it from the brain.
‘It took us 25 minutes
to remove the parasite. It was difficult to pin it down as it was moving
around,” Dr Milan said.
Patel, who is
unmarried, was living in a hospice where he worked in the kitchen, cutting
vegetables.
Doctors suspect the
worm in Patel’s eye could have entered through a dog bite.