This man's life turned into a nightmare after he got stung by a bee in his right eye

We all know getting stung by a bee can have dangerous consequences for your health, especially if you have an allergic reaction. A very unlucky man from Philadelphia, USA, unfortunately found out a bit late. Indeed, he got stung by a bee while working near a beehive. However, he got stung in a very delicate place.

He had to wait for two days before doctors finally found out what had happened to him.

A bee stung this man's eyeball

A 55-year-old man from Philadelphia was enjoying a nice day out when he was suddenly stung by a bee, inside his right eyeball. He immediately visited his local emergency room, where doctors claimed to have removed the barbed bee stinger from his right eye. This should have been the end of the story, but this man's nightmare did not end there.

Two days after his trip to the A&E, he was still experiencing extreme discomfort in his eye, and his eyesight was getting progressively worse. He almost couldn't see anymore, and he explained only being able to count his fingers when he shut his injured eye.

As he started to panic, he visited an ophthalmology clinic, where doctors found out his eye was swollen, inflamed, bloodshot, and blood was pooling at the bottom of his iris. Ophthalmology experts Dr Talia Shoshany and Dr Zeba Syed treated the patient, and they were the ones who discovered part of the barbed bee stinger was still inside his eye. Indeed, while doctors at the A&E got a part of it out, they didn't get it all.

He almost lost his eyesight

The man's case was reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. While the ER missed a part of the barbed bee stinger, the man's doctors told Ars Technica they could not have seen the fragment still lodged deep inside his eye.

I am not surprised that the ER missed a small fragment. They pulled out the majority of the stinger, but the small fragment was only able to be visualised at a slit lamp.

After the fragment was 'pulled out with ophthalmic-specific micro-forceps', the man was sent home with antibacterial eye drops. Five months later, the patient had vastly improved, and his eyesight was back to 20/25.

If you become one of the very few people who eventually get stung by a bee in the eye, you should remember to visit an eye specialist immediately.

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Sources used:

Metro: Man stung by a bee in the most horrific place – but not where you think

Ars Technica: Man suffers rare bee sting directly to the eyeball—it didn’t go well

The New England Journal of Medicine: Ocular Bee Sting