Doctors find American man had a splinter in his eye - for 15 years

Doctors have been treating a patient who has had a splinter in his eye for a decade and a half.

A case report published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) cited an American patient who turned up with a splinter embedded in his cornea. According to the report, the patient - belived to be from Boston - was having his eye checked because of his diabetes.

Doctors found the splinter in the right side of his eye, relatively close to the pupil.

In the report, they said: "[We found] an intracorneal wooden foreign body that remained undetected for 15 years following an ocular injury sustained during gardening. The patient presented with stable visual acuity despite the long-standing presence of a wooden splinter embedded in the cornea.

"Interestingly, Pentacam corneal tomography did not show any abnormalities despite the foreign body piercing through the corneal stroma and endothelium. This case may serve as an opportunity to re-examine the approach to managing chronic and stable intracorneal wooden foreign bodies and explore the implications of continued observation rather than surgical management."

The patient reportedly told doctors that while his eye hurt 15 years ago, he never came to the hospital for it because the pain eased off. It is unknown whether doctors have removed the splinter or not.