Doctors find parasitic TICK feasting on eyeball of man who went to hospital complaining of itchy eye

Gruesome images show a parasitic tick feasting on the eyeball of an elderly patient in Argentina.

The patient, who has not been named and is reportedly in his 70s, went to hospital complaining that his eye was ‘itchy’ and bloodshot.

Doctors found the tiny blood-sucking, eight-legged creature wriggling around on his sclera, the tough outer layer of the eyeball, which is visibly red and irritated.

No further details were revealed, but ticks are normally removed by numbing the eye and using tweezers.

The video was revealed online by TikTok account neuquencapitaltiktok, which says it is based in Neuquen, a city in the Patagonia region of Argentina.

It was originally posted last month but has since gone viral and racked up more than 2.6million views.

Those who watched the clip have expressed shock and disgust, with one saying it ‘made me itch’ while a second said they had a ‘new fear unlocked’.

About 30,000 Americans get bitten by ticks – which are relatives of spiders – every year. 

They are most active from April to September, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which warns they live in areas with grass, brush or trees.

Camping, hunting or just spending time in grass could expose you to the pests, which can attach to hosts for days.

The individual, who has not been named and was reportedly in his 70s, went to doctors in Argentina complaining of a burning sensation in his eye. Medics said a tick was there

Doctors say it is ‘very uncommon’ to find the insects biting the eye itself, with most normally stopping at the eyelid.

But in rare cases it ‘can be sight-threatening’.

Ticks are also known to harbor infections, such as Lyme disease.

Another case of a tick getting into someone’s eyeball was reported in 2019 in Kentucky.

Chris Prater, an electrician, had sprayed himself with insect repellant before climbing a ladder to work untangling a powerline from a tree.

By the end of the day, he was starting to feel an ‘irritation’ in his eye.

He asked his office safety manager to take a look, who quickly noticed a ‘spot’ on his eye that would not move.

Mr Prater then decided to go to see a doctor, who took a look at his eye before diagnosing a tick. It was removed with tweezers and Mr Prater suffered no long-term damage.

‘[The doctor] said: “It’s a tick”. That’s when I got scared a little bit,’ he told WYMT-TV at the time.

‘I leaned around and looked at him and I asked him if he was joking and he said: “No, you have a deer tick or some type of tick.” It was very little.’

Describing how the tick was removed, he said: ‘Once he grabbed ahold of it and pulled it off, the tick made a little, like a little popping sound when it came off of my eye.’

He was sent home with antibiotics and steroid drops for his eye.

Four must-know rules to safely remove a tick 

 

Below are four must-follow rules for safely removing a tick from your body. 

Doctors say if it has bitten an unusual place, however, such as an eyeball, it is best to go to medics to have it removed professionally.

• Use fine-tipped tweezers or a tick removal tool;

To avoid squeezing the body of the tick or leaving the head in, the tick should be pulled out.

This can be done using a tick removal tool, or tweezers.

According to medics, they can be found in some pharmacies, vets and pet shops.

• Grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible;

Clean, fine-tipped tweezers should be used to grasp the tick as close to the skin’s surface as possible.

Press down on the skin on either side of the tick.

This is to ensure the skin doesn’t pull up when you pull the tick off.

• Slowly pull upwards, taking care not to squeeze or crush the tick 

Using the tweezers, pull upward with steady, even pressure.

Tweezers should be pulled not twisted or jerked as this could cause the mouth-parts of the tick to break off and remain in the skin.

It could also cause it to regurgitate disease-causing fluids.

If this happens, remove the mouth-parts with tweezers or a sterilized needle, Lyme Disease UK said.

• Clean the bite with antiseptic or soap and water 

Once removed, the tick should be disposed of.

The NHS warns never to crush a tick with your fingers.

To dispose of a live tick safely, you should either put it in alcohol, place it in a sealed bag or container, wrap it tightly in tape, or flush it down the toilet.

After removing the tick, thoroughly clean the bite area and your hands with an antiseptic wipe, rubbing alcohol or soap and water.