WARNING – GRAPHIC CONTENT: A woman who went to doctors complaining of severe pain and swelling in her eye has shocked the medical world with what was embedded behind her cornea. Medics had initially thought the patient was suffering from an eye infection when a little bit of further investigation found four bees living inside her eye. The tiny sweat bees had been surviving on her tear ducts, according to Taiwanese news channel CTS News. A doctor found four bees living inside a woman’s eye in Taiwan. Source: Australscope/ AsiaWire The 29-year-old Taiwanese woman who was identified by just her surname, He, had been visiting the grave of a family member and removing weeds when she felt a sharp pain and thought the wind had blown dirt into her eye. The head of ophthalmology at the University Hospital in Taiwan called the medical incident a “world first”, telling reporters at a press conference that the breed of bees found in Ms He’s eye nest near graves and in fallen trees. Describing the moment he discovered the bees, Dr Hung Ch-ting said: ”I saw something that looked like insect legs, so I pulled them out under a microscope slowly, and one at a time without damaging their bodies.” Dr Hung was reportedly successful in removing the four sweat bees alive from Ms He’s eye. Ms He and Dr Hung Chi-ting who found and removed the bees from her eye. Source: Australscope/ AsiaWire Officials said the outcome could have been much worse had Ms He rubbed her eyes more — the worst case scenario of which would have been blindness, according to Apple Daily Taiwan. She is expect to make a full recovery. The Halictide species, or “sweat bees” as they are more commonly known, get their name from their attraction to human perspiration. The species can be found all over the world and nest in the ground. The bees aren’t typically aggressive and only give a minor sting when pressed against the skin. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook and stay up to date with the latest news with Yahoo’s daily newsletter. Sign up here.<doc-sep>Taiwanese doctors found four small sweat bees living inside a woman’s eye who were surviving off of her tears, according to BBC. Measuring only three to four millimeters in length, the tiny bees flew into the 28-year-old woman’s eye when she was pulling weeds at a relative’s grave site. The woman, identified by her family name of He, thought it was only dirt that got caught in her eye and tried to wash it out with water, but the severe pain continued through the night. “It was very painful. Tears wouldn’t stop coming out of my eye,” she said. “I was scared to death.” Doctors treating a Taiwanese woman for a swollen eye found four tiny bees living under her left eyelid https://t.co/QtbtiFiN6c pic.twitter.com/uxEWtNT059 — CNN (@CNN) April 10, 2019 Seeking medical attention after hours of agony, He went to a hospital in southern Taiwan the next morning in which doctors made the surprising discovery. (RELATED: Two Boys Facing Felony Charges For Slaughtering 500,000 Bees) “She couldn’t completely close her eyes,” said Dr. Hong, an ophthalmology professor at Fooyin University Hospital. “I looked into the gap with a microscope and saw something black that looked like an insect leg.” “I grabbed the leg and very slowly took one out, then I saw another one, and another and another. They were still intact and all alive.” In the “world’s first” operation, the doctors removed the bees, who were feeding off the moisture and salt of her tears, from He’s tear ducts and that it could have been much worse if the woman had rubbed her eyes. (RELATED: Man Survives Being Lost On Mount St. Helens By Eating Bees) The story keeps giving.. Look at the TV pics from Taiwan.. these are not small bees. https://t.co/BvFzsjMjFy pic.twitter.com/maaKUCC9uq — Rafael Epstein (@Raf_Epstein) April 10, 2019 “She was wearing contact lenses so she didn’t dare to rub her eyes in case she broke the lens,” said Hong. “If she did she could have induced the bees to produce venom…she could have gone blind.” “Thankfully she came to the hospital early, otherwise I might have had to take her eyeball out to save her life.” Each bee was extracted alive and was sent to another organization to be studied. The woman was diagnosed with cellulitis, a bacterial skin infection, and severe corneal erosion caused by the tiny insects. She has been discharged from the hospital and is expected to make a full recovery. (RELATED: Watch The First-Ever Robotic Bee Pollinate A Flower) Also known as Halictidae, sweat bees are attracted to sweat and land on people to drink their perspiration. They are known to “nest near graves and in fallen trees, so it’s easy to come across them while hiking in mountains,” said Hong. They have also been discovered to consume tears because of their high protein content, according to research by the Kansas Entomological Society.<doc-sep>The woman complained of severe eye pain and swollen eyelids before doctors found the sweat bees inside of her eyelid If you thought multiple bees flying around you were bad, just imagine having them inside your eyelid. That’s what a 29-year-old Taiwanese woman experienced last week after she began suffering from severe eye pain and found four bees under her eyelid feeding on her tear ducts, according to local outlet CTS News. Get push notifications with news, features and more. The finding was described by doctors as the “world’s first” and despite the terrifying encounter, the woman is expected to make a full recovery — due in part to the fact she did not excessively rub her eyes, which could’ve led to further inflammation of her cornea or blindness, The Straits Times reports. The woman, who was only identified by her last name He, said during a press conference that she first started feeling discomfort while she was cleaning a relative’s grave and the insects unknowingly flew into her eye, according to Business Insider Singapore. VARIOUS Sweat bee | Credit: Andre Skonieczny/imageBROKER/REX/Shutterstock Because it felt like dirt or sand in her eye, the woman said she tried to flush it out with water but was unsuccessful. By that evening, the woman was experiencing sharp pains and watery eyes so she sought out medical advice, according to the outlet. Doctors at Fooyin University Hospital in Taiwan then discovered that woman had four sweat bees under her swollen eyelids, feeding on her tear ducts. One by one, Professor Hung Chi-ting said he removed the insects, which were still alive, from her eye. “I saw something that looked like insect legs, so I pulled them out under a microscope slowly, and one at a time without damaging their bodies,” he said during the press conference, according to Business Insider Singapore. Though sweat bees do not attack people, Dr. Hung said they are attracted to human perspiration and are often found near graves, which is where he suggested the woman contracted the unwanted visitors in her eye. She is now on her way to making a full recovery and will likely be wearing goggles at the next visit to her relative’s grave, per Dr. Hung’s suggestion. India Thousands of Bees - Jun 2003 Sweat bees | Credit: Harish Tyagi/EPA/REX/Shutterstock Sweat bees are incredibly small, which makes them difficult for humans to notice as they fly around, according to Terminix. Though they can appear in large numbers, they typically do not show any signs of aggression — the sweat bees have the least painful sting of all stinging insects — and will only sting someone if they’re pressed against their skin. Instead of attacking, the bees are merely interested in licking up human sweat with their short tongues as a way to supplement their diets, Terminix reports.<doc-sep>A Taiwanese woman went to the hospital for what she believed was an eye infection. Instead, doctors found four tiny bees beneath her eyelids. According to The New York Times, the patient, identified only by her last name, He, felt a "sharp pain" in her left eye while taking part in the tradition of tomb-sweeping, an annual event to visit the tombs of ancestors to clean their graves and make ritual offerings. She reportedly plucked weeds from a gravestone and rinsed what she believed to be sand from her eyes with water. When she got home, she couldn't stop crying. Her eye had become totally swollen shut and the pain was unbearable. The infection seemed to be getting worse. When He arrived at Fooyin University Hospital in Taiwan, doctors didn’t find a bacterial infection. Instead, while examining He’s eyes through a microscope, the hospital’s head of ophthalmology reportedly found four bees feeding on her tear ducts. “Under the microscope, I slowly pulled them out, one after another,” Dr. Hung Chi-ting, the head ophthalmologist at Fooyin University, said at a news conference broadcast by local media last week, according to the Times. Sweat bees are only about a quarter of an inch in length. Getty Images The bees extracted from He's eyes are known as "sweat bees" and they're part of the halictid family. They're about a quarter of an inch in length and have a dark, metallic hue. They subsist primarily on pollen and nectar and, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, "have never met a flower they did not like, and they rarely find one whose pollen or nectar is unyielding." They also need salt to supplement their diet, so they feed on sweat and tears. “To my knowledge, this is the first case of a bee or a wasp getting caught in a part of a person’s anatomy, as far as I know,” Matan Shelomi, an associate professor of entomology at National Taiwan University, told The Washington Post. “I’m sure the sweat bees got by the eye and got squished between the eye and eyelid. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time.” “They don’t seem to be bothered by people, so they will go to any source of salt," Shelomi said. "I think they’re kind of dumb if they come to humans for their salt. They haven’t figured out what we are.” The woman was reportedly discharged and is expected to make a full recovery. The bees extracted from her eyes are still alive and will now be studied. Rose Minutaglio Staff Writer Rose is a Staff Writer at ELLE covering culture, news, and women's issues. 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Prince William slams BBC after report on methods used to secure Diana interview The wait is over, you can finally see this adorable panda cub Viral 'Charlie bit my finger' video to be taken down. Here's why See the highlights from the 2021 Billboard Music Awards See the bees living in this woman's eye Doctors found four sweat bees in a woman's eye after she visited a relative's gravesite in Taiwan. (CNN) — Doctors treating a Taiwanese woman for a swollen eye were shocked to find four tiny bees living under her left eyelid. The miniscule insects, known as sweat bees, are 3 to 4 millimeters (0.12-0.16 inches) in length, according to CNN affiliate CTS. “I saw something that looked like insect legs, so I pulled them out under a microscope slowly, and one at a time without damaging things inside,” Hung Chi-ting, the head of the ophthalmology department at Taiwan’s Fooyin University Hospital, told reporters at a news conference. Sweat bees, also known as halictidae, “nest near graves and in fallen trees, so it’s easy to come across them while hiking in mountains,” Hung explained. According to CTS, the woman, identified by her family name of He, said she thinks the insects blew into her eye at a relative’s grave site when she visited it with her family. She washed her eyes with water but kept experiencing severe pain. “It was very painful. Tears wouldn’t stop coming out of my eye,” she said. “I was scared to death.” After three hours of agony, He visited the hospital, where doctors determined she was suffering from cellulitis, a bacterial skin infection, and severe corneal erosion caused by the sweat bees. “Thankfully she came to the hospital early, otherwise I might have had to take her eyeball out to save her life,” Hung said. He’s eyesight had been reduced to under 0.1, the equivalent of 20-200 vision on the Snellen eye chart measuring visual acuity, Hung told reporters. “Luckily, she didn’t have a high fever and it hadn’t affected her central nervous system.” The sweat bee feeds off nectar and pollen, but is also drawn to human perspiration, which provides “precious moisture and salts,” according to the Missouri Department of Conservation. Local media reported that He was expected to make a full recovery.