Images in Emergency
Vol. 21 No. 4 (2025)
https://doi.org/10.4081/ecj.2025.14036

Doctor, something is stuck in my eye!

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Published: 22 July 2025
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Dirofilariasis, conjunctiva, filariasis, microfilariae, nematode, parasites, zoonosis

Authors

Erika Poggiali
E.Poggiali@ausl.pc.it
Emergency Department, Guglielmo da Saliceto Hospital, Piacenza, Italy.
Alessandro Dacrema
Emergency Department, Guglielmo da Saliceto Hospital, Piacenza, Italy.
Andrea Vercelli
Emergency Department, Guglielmo da Saliceto Hospital, Piacenza, Italy.

A 62-year-old Italian woman presented to our emergency room with complaints of redness and a foreign body sensation in her left eye since the day before. Her vision was unaffected, and she she felt well otherwise. She had no previous history of similar episodes, ocular trauma, or foreign body incidents, and there was no record of any systemic illnesses or recent travel. She lived with her pet dog. Laboratory tests, including C-reactive protein and eosinophil count, resulted all normal. On ocular examination, her visual acuity was 20/20 in both eyes. Diffuse conjunctival congestion was noted in the left eye and a large live nematode was visualized in the temporal part of the bulb under the conjunctiva (Video 1). The cornea anterior chamber and the fundus examination were unremarkable.

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Citations

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How to Cite



Doctor, something is stuck in my eye!. (2025). Emergency Care Journal, 21(4). https://doi.org/10.4081/ecj.2025.14036
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