A woman in Taiwan went through an eye-opening procedure this week when doctors removed four live bees that were living under her left eyelid. Hung Chi-ting, the head of the ophthalmology department at Taiwan’s Fooyin University Hospital, told reporters:
“I saw something that looked like insect legs, so I pulled them out under a microscope slowly, and one at a time without damaging things inside.”
The bees, a species known as halictidae, nest near graves and fallen trees. The woman believes the bees blew into her eyes while she was visiting a relative’s grave site. The woman says she washed her eyes but the severe pain persisted.
“It was very painful. Tears wouldn’t stop coming out of my eye. I was scared to death.”
Doctors say her eyesight has been impacted and has been reduced to 20-200 vision but it could have been much worse.
“Luckily, she didn’t have a high fever and it hadn’t affected her central nervous system. Thankfully she came to the hospital early, otherwise I might have had to take her eyeball out to save her life.”
