A 60-year-old man from Karnataka, India, went to a medical center in Kundapur after beginning to feel pain and intense itching in his right eye. When ophthalmologist Srikanth Shetty examined him, he found a parasite moving in the white of the eye.
The doctors decided to remove it immediately because the worm could cause permanent damage to his vision. But removing it presented a particular challenge: they had to manage to get it out alive, since killing it while it was still inside the eye could cause complications. In addition, the parasite wouldn’t stop moving, making it harder to catch.
Finally, the team managed to remove it and could see its size: it measured approximately 15 centimeters. Dr. Shetty said it was likely Wuchereria bancrofti, a filarial worm that can be transmitted through mosquito bites.
But there was another problem. Subsequent tests revealed that the man also had other worms in his blood, so he received medication. The extraction was recorded, and footage of the procedure was widely shared online in October 2018.
The scene shows the doctor using small forceps to slowly remove the parasite, which reveals its full and astonishing 15 centimeters as it comes out of the eye.