Bees are terrifying. Something about them bypasses all reason and sends the brain directly into panic mode, despite their size. Actually, now that we know this story, their size makes them even scarier. In short, doctors in Taiwan found four bees in a woman's left eyelid. She was experiencing pain when she was cleaning a gravestone, the New York Times reports, and thought she'd gotten sand in it. She rinsed her eye with water, but it kept swelling. After three hours, she finally went to the hospital. "It was very painful. Tears wouldn't stop coming out of my eye," she said, according to CNN. "I was scared to death." Doctors found the four bees and a bacterial skin infection called cellulitism, plus corneal erosion. Halictidae, also known as sweat bees, are around 3 to 4 millimeters long and live off the salt that comes from human and animal glans. "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," said Hung Chi-ting, the head of the ophthalmology department at Taiwan's Fooyin University Hospital, at a news conference. Because she was able to refrain from rubbing her eyes, the bees were still alive and intact. "Thankfully she came to the hospital early, otherwise I might have had to take her eyeball out to save her life," Hung said. She's reportedly expected to make a full recovery. Whether anyone will ever be able to sleep again knowing this is possible is another question. h/t KRON 4, New York Times, CNN<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 young woman in Taiwan reportedly had four bees living beneath her eyelid and "feasting on her tears." That's according to the Guardian, which cited a press conference where a doctor at Taiwan's Fooyin University Hospital described how he found the insects squirming within the woman's 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 things inside," said Hung Chi-ting, the hospital's head of ophthalmology, at the conference, per CNN. The four insects measured less than a quarter of an inch in length, the network reported, and are known as "sweat bees" or Halictidae. The insects, which are typically non-aggressive, are drawn to human perspiration that "offers them precious moisture and salts," the Missouri Department of Conservation notes. Taiwan's CTS News reported that the woman, identified by her last name, He, said she felt a pain in her eye one day while tending the grave of a relative, according to reports. She was pulling weeds at the time and presumed it was soil, but a stinging sensation under her eyelid continued even after she washed it out with water. When she visited the doctor, Hung peered into her eye through a microscope expecting to find an infection. Instead he saw the tiny legs of the bees wriggling in her ducts, the Guardian reported. What saved the woman, her doctor said: She refrained from rubbing her eyes, which could have ruptured the bees and caused an infection. "Thankfully she came to the hospital early, otherwise I might have had to take her eyeball out to save her life," Hung said, according to CNN. CTS News broadcast the press conference in a report published last week: