Fish hook injury of the eyelid: an unusual case
- Accepted 8 December 1999
Editor,—Reports of ocular fish hook injuries are uncommon in the literature. In the context of a recent case report by Krott and co-authors,1 I would like to add my experience with a rather unusual case of fish hook injury to the eyelid.
A 44 year old man presented to the casualty department with a fish hook embedded in his left upper eyelid. He had cut off the line but made no attempt to remove the hook. The fish hook had pierced the eyelid from its conjunctival aspect near the outer canthus. It was loaded with nine live maggots that were used as bait (Fig 1). The left eye showed a small superficial linear abrasion of the cornea but was otherwise unremarkable and the visual acuity was 6/6. Under local anaesthesia after removal of the maggots, the hook was rotated so that the barb emerged through the eyelid skin. The barb was snipped off using a wire cutter and the hook was rotated back and removed. The patient was treated with saline irrigation of the conjunctival sac and a topical antibiotic and he made an uneventful recovery.
Fish hook loaded with nine live maggots embedded in the left upper eyelid.
Even in the absence of serious ocular injury, this case is interesting for the presence on the fish hook of live maggots that were kissing the conjunctiva and eyelid skin!
