4 Bees Found Living in Woman's Eye, Feeding on Her Tears

A Taiwanese woman got an unbelievable shock after a doctor discovered four tiny bees living in one of her eyes.

A Taiwanese woman got an unbelievable shock after a doctor discovered four tiny bees living in one of her eyes. 

The 28-year-old patient, known as Ms. He, said she felt stinging pain in one of her eyes after a gust of wind blew what she assumed was dirt into her face. 

"It was a very intense stinging pain and I was constantly shedding tears, there was a lot of secretion," Ms. He said at a news conference.

She went to Dr. Hung Chi-ting to get it checked out. When he took a closer look, he noticed what appeared to be an insect leg poking out of the corner of her eye.

Carefully, with the aid of a microscope, he removed the insect — and found three more behind it. 

"After I pulled them out one by one, I discovered that surprisingly there were four bees," Hung said. "The size of every single bee was around 0.3 to 0.4 centimeters (.15 to .19 inches)."

Every single one was alive, feasting on the salt in the woman's tears. 

Hung said Ms. He was very fortunate she didn't rub her eyes despite the pain she must have been in. 

Had she agitated the bees, Hung said, they could have secreted venom, which might have blinded her. 

Instead, he said, the bees were successfully removed and her symptoms quickly started to clear up. 

As for the bees, they're still alive and were sent to an organization to be studied. 

RELATED STORIES