Gruesome moment doctors pull WORM out of boy's eye after it had been living inside for one month

Doctors at the National Children's hospital in Lima, Peru, soon discovered that a worm was responsible for a swelling that had been affecting a 17-year-old for four weeks.

They made discovery after taking an MRI scan of the young man, whose name was not mentioned in media reports.

Screams from the medical team were heard when the doctor set out to remove the worm with a pair of tweezers.

Ophthalmologist Carolina Marchena, explained how the worm posed serious risks to the boy's health due to swelling near a sensitive part of the face known as the "triangle of death" or "danger triangle" from which infections can spread to the brain.

She said: "The location of the worm from the lower lid, which was getting bigger, made the risks increase because the youth's tissue was swelling in an area close to the sinuses that's close to the delicate part which is the triangle of death [danger triangle of the face."

Marchena said they used a common culinary herb, basil, to lure part of the worm from the boy's eye.

"Basil was used as a way of attracting the worm and due to the smell the worm came out [from inside eye] and that's why we used it [the basil.”

"However, because of the size of the worm it was impossible that it would come out completely on its own. It just stuck a little part out, which was its head," she said.

Once the head of the hungry worm poked out in search of the basil, doctors were able to use tweezers to pull it out in its entirety.

Due to the timely removal, the worm, which was three centimetres (one inch) long, did not cause any long-term damage, according to the Peruvian Correo Newspaper.