Choi Won, Kim Ga Eon, Park Seong Hwan, Shin Sang Eon, Park Ji Hye, Yoon Kyung Chul
Department of Ophthalmology and Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Chonnam National University Medical School and Hospital, 8 Hakdong, Donggu, Gwangju 501-757, South Korea.
Department of Pathology, Chonnam National University Medical School and Hospital, 8 Hakdong, Donggu, Gwangju 501-757, South Korea.
Parasitol Int. 2015 Oct;64(5):281-3. doi: 10.1016/j.parint.2015.03.002. Epub 2015 Mar 18.
A 72-year-old man with no medical history initially presented to the emergency room with severe tearing, redness, foreign body sensation, and pain in the left eye. He reported no previous history of any periocular trauma, malignancy, surgery, or systemic illness. On presentation, the patient only showed left periorbital edema and erythema in the left eyelid with no evidence of any skin malignancy. On slit lamp examination, multiple small whitish motile organisms were observed on the left conjunctival fornices. The organisms were removed, preserved, and identified as the third-stage larvae of Lucilia sericata (green bottle fly). The patient was treated with topical antibiotic and steroid eye drops and the inflammation resolved 1 week after treatment initiation. This is the first report of external ophthalmomyiasis caused by facultative parasite, L. sericata maggots in a healthy patient without any predisposing factors.
