Despite a terrible infestation, doctors found more than a dozen tiny maggots in an unlucky gardener's eyes - Part I

Gruesome infestation  

According to a medical case report, a 53-year-old man was found to have more than a dozen maggots in his eye after a spot of gardening.The man from France presented to the emergency department complaining of itching in his right eye that he had been experiencing for many hours, the authors of the case study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, said.

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Gardening near farm  

The Frenchman had been gardening near a horse and sheep farm earlier when he felt something enter his right eye. Doctors conducted an eye test, finding that he had 20/20 vision. But the right eye seemed to be red and irritated.

Dozen of tiny maggots  

Ultimately, doctors spotted more than a dozen translucent fly larvae in the outer structures of the eyeball. Doctors were even able to capture video footage of the man's eye, showing the larvae moving around.

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Larvae are removed by using forceps  

Luckily, medics were able to remove the larvae manually using forceps. Later, they were identified as larvae from the species Oestrus ovis, otherwise known as the sheep bot fly.

The study says  

According to the study's authors, a fly of this species had likely landed in or around the man's eye and deposited the larvae. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the sheep bot fly belongs to the more prominent bot fly family, a group of almost bee-like flies. The larvae of these flies were parasitic on several types of mammals.