Dang That Caterpillar Hair In My Eye!

It's been a crazy couple of days for me.  I had an eye issue, with my good eye - the one I can actually see with - so I was both concerned and scared.  I called the emergency line over the weekend and the nice doctor on call (different doc than mine) called me in some eye drops but the membrane around my eye kept on getting more irritated and progressively more painful as each day went by.  I have been to my Ophthalmologist's office twice in two days.  I hope the issue is taken care of. The first time my doc found a fiber in my eye.  Good - that's out of my eye now.   The second visit he found a caterpillar hair lodged in the corner of my eye which would also migrate to other places in the membrane causing pain.  Great news!!! I do believe that my doctor got everything out of my eye this time. This little bugger caused my eye to get scratched up.  Geeesh!!  My eye is feeling better now, thank goodness!   I am just glad that my great doctor found out what the problem was with my eye.  After looking at Wikipedia, apparently those little caterpillar hair buggers can cause tremendous damage when they enter your system depending on the type of caterpillar the hair came from which may coincide with what region you live in. 

From Wikipedia:

"Caterpillar hairs have also been known to cause kerato-conjunctivitis. The sharp barbs on the end of Caterpillar hairs can get lodged in soft tissues and mucus membranes such as the eyes. Once they enter such tissues, they can be difficult to extract, often exacerbating the problem as they migrate across the membrane.


This becomes a particular problem in an indoor setting. The hairs easily enter buildings through ventilation systems and accumulate in indoor environments because their small size, which makes it difficult for them to be vented out. This accumulation increases the risk of human contact in indoor environments."

This type mentioned above is what I had.

But, depending on the type of caterpillar hair it has the capacity to cause alot of damage to your body:

"Caterpillar hair has been known to be a cause of human health problems. Caterpillar hairs sometimes have venoms in them and species from approximately 12 families of moths or butterflies worldwide can inflict serious human injuries ranging from urticarial dermatitis and atopic asthma to osteochondritis, consumption coagulopathy, renal failure, and intracerebral hemorrhage.^[22] Skin rashes are the most common, but there have been fatalities.^[23] Lonomia is a frequent cause of death in Brazil with 354 cases were reported between 1989 and 2005. Lethality ranging up to 20% with death caused most often by intracranial hemorrhage."

Who would have thought something so tiny could cause so much bodily damage?