A few months ago I woke up early in the morning with a funny feeling in my left eye. It itched a bit. So I went to the bathroom and washed my face. Then it started to burn. This feeling passed, and the feeling went back to the mild itch… and I went about my day.
The next morning I woke up with a slightly puffy left eye, and the burn was back. I went to see a skin Doctor we know, but he wasn’t in the clinic, so I saw and eye doctor – who prescribed some drops – and a general physician, who told me it was a “spider kiss” – a reaction to a spider walking over my face. He gave me some meds and I went back to work.
The next morning I woke up with a left eye that was swelled completely shut, and now my right eye started to look like my left eye did, two days ago. I continued my meds, as the doctor said it would last for three days.
Two days later things were worse. Both eyes were swelled and bright red… and starting to puss. I finally met with the skin doctor and the minute I walked in the door he said, “What did you eat?” He went on to explain that I had ingested a worm and was now in my face. That’s right. IN MY FACE!. He gave me a pile of meds and within and hour the swelling was almost gone, but the puss continued to excrete for two more days. I felt so much better, aside from the fact that I had a worm in my face.
“How does it get out?” My wife asked innocently. I didn’t want to know, but I asked the doctor anyway. “It will just get absorbed in to your skin… it’s no big deal.” Right. No big deal.
The next morning I woke up with two giant red lines on the left side of my face – they ran from my eye to my mouth, in an arc. It sort of looked like a scratch, but up close it obviously wasn’t.
I assume that this is some sort of trail that the worm(s!?) made as the migrated, in my skin, from my eye to my chin, but I’m not sure. I was freaked out enough to stop shaving for a few months until a second round of meds from the skin doctor did their job.
Even today, you can see the lines on my face – a faint discoloration that I assume will be with me forever. Damn you, Face Worm!