Indian Journal of Ophthalmology

LETTER TO EDITOR
Year
: 2000  |  Volume : 48  |  Issue : 4  |  Page : 331-

Ascaris lumbricoides in the lacrimal passage.


D Garg, M Khurana 
 

Correspondence Address:
D Garg





How to cite this article:
Garg D, Khurana M. Ascaris lumbricoides in the lacrimal passage. Indian J Ophthalmol 2000;48:331-331


How to cite this URL:
Garg D, Khurana M. Ascaris lumbricoides in the lacrimal passage. Indian J Ophthalmol [serial online] 2000 [cited 2024 Mar 29 ];48:331-331
Available from: https://journals.lww.com/ijo/pages/default.aspx/text.asp?2000/48/4/331/14833


Full Text

Dear Editor:

Ascaris lumbricoides, the largest intestinal nematode infesting man has various ectopic presentations in the eye. We read with interest the recent case report of Balasubramaniam et al.[1]

A similar case reported to us in October 1998. We removed a 4cm X 0.2cm long immature Ascaris lumbricoides Figure from the lower punctum of the right eye of an 18-month-old male child. Anterior segment and fundus examinations was normal.

Although such cases have been discussed in detail elsewhere[1,2] we found certain salient features peculiar to our patient. These are as follows:

a) Age at presentation: the child was just one and a half years old at the time of presentation.

b) Time of presentation: the child presented within 2 hours of when the mother noticed the white threadlike mass in the eye.

c) Systemic involvement: On giving antihelminthics, the child passed a large number of worms from the mouth and in stools. This confirmed the route which the worm would have taken to reach the lacrimal passages, that is, via the nasopharynx and through the naso-lacrimal duct.

References

1Balasubramaniam M, Sudhakar P, Subhashini M, Srinivasan S, Padma M, Chopra V, et al. Ascaris Lumbricoides in the lacrimal passage. Indian J Ophthalmol 2000;48:53-54.
2Kaplan CS, Freedman L, R Elson-Dew. A worm in the eye. A familiar parasite in an unusual situation. S Afr Med 1956;30:791-92.