title: Ocular leech infestation.
abstract: This case report describes a female toddler with manifestations of ocular leech infestation. A 2-year-old girl was brought to our outpatient clinic with a complaint of irritable crying after being taken to a stream in Hualien 1 day previous, where she played in the water. The parents noticed that she rubbed her right eye a lot. Upon examination, the girl had good fix and follow in either eye. Slit-lamp examination showed conjunctival injection with a moving dark black-brown foreign body partly attached in the lower conjunctiva. After applying topical anesthetics, the leech, measuring 1 cm in length, was extracted under a microscope. The patient began using topical antibiotic and corticosteroid agents. By 1 week after extraction, the patient had no obvious symptoms or signs, except for a limited subconjunctival hemorrhage, and no corneal/scleral involvement was observed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Buddhist Tzu-Chi General Hospital, Hualien, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Yueh-Chang
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Buddhist Tzu-Chi General Hospital, Hualien, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Cheng-Jen
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Chiu
keywords: conjunctival reaction; leech; ocular foreign body; pediatric ophthalmology