Ant infestation of the human orbit [ocular myrmecosis]

ABSTRACT

A 7-year-old girl suffered from recurrent episodes of pain, redness, and watering of her right eye. During one of the acute episodes, a tiny black object was seen floating in the pool of tears. On microscopic examination it turned out to be a callow of and. During a careful slit lamp examination, the examiner made and videotaped the most astonishing observation of the newly hatched ants digging their way out from under the conjunctive of the inferior fornix. The infestation of the human orbit with ants, the ocular "myrmecosis" is most unusual and at present a difficult to explain phenomenon. [Pakistan Journal of Ophthalmology 859, 74, July, 1992]