An Illustrative Approach to Removing Conjunctival Bitten Ant Foreign Body

An animate ocular foreign body poses a challenging situation for the ophthalmologist for its complete removal. Incomplete removal may lead to infection and inflammation. A woman in her 50s presented with a history of an ocular foreign body in her left eye while working in the agricultural land. On examination, there was conjunctival congestion and a copious amount of thick secretion in the inferonasal region of the conjunctiva. There was a dark black dot in the red body embedded in the secretion, which aroused my suspicion of an animate object (the red ant). In an animate ocular foreign body, complete removal is warranted to prevent infection and inflammation. Hence, the thick secretion that hid the animate object's body was gently removed using cotton tip applicators, and a part of the dead red ant bitten to the conjunctiva was visible. Initially, we tried to remove it using a cotton tip applicator but failed. In order to remove it completely, we tried to remove it using plain forceps, which were successfully removed by grabbing its head under a slit-lamp examination. The ant was sent to the parasitology department, which ensured the complete removal of the ant in the presence of its mandible. The patient was completely relieved of the symptoms and signs at the one-week follow-up. In this case report, we illustrate our stepwise approach to the management of a conjunctival bitten dead ant foreign body for its complete removal with a photo and video demonstration.