# Urticating hair in eye



## Boyd Blizard (Oct 13, 2011)

Last Saturday eve I tried mating my MM L. Parahybana to a big beautiful female and at some point must have gotten a hair only eyeball. No big thing until Sat. eve, when it felt as if I had an eyelash on the cornea. By 10:00 I felt pretty uncomfortable. Sunday I awoke to what felt like a hot needle piercing my eye, all day could not wear my glasses as doing so made my eye feel like it was on fire. Monday was not much better until about noon when it started to subside somewhat. Tuesday was a repeat of Saturday and yesterday was the first pain free day although still irritated. Woke up this morning and feel fine. No complaints just thought I would share my exp. Any others want to chime in? Later...


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## pnshmntMMA (Oct 13, 2011)

We should have hair reports like bite reports. Might be a good idea no? Glad you are ok, even very normal everyday things on your eye can be very dangerous.

Reactions: Like 1


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## captmarga (Oct 13, 2011)

If you didn't do an eyewash, it wouldn't hurt to do so.  Any time you have irritation like that, it's probably best to go ahead and go have the eye looked at.  Sorry to hear about the hairing, but your sight isn't worth that...

Good luck, 

Marga


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## BrettG (Oct 13, 2011)

This happened to me and I had issues for over a month.Red,swollen,painful,you name it.


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## Boyd Blizard (Oct 13, 2011)

Did the eyewash, over and over again, in fact so many times my right eye color went from brown to tan, just kidding. But all seems to be well now, no issues today. Good lesson, maybe goggles not so bad an idea eh?


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## pocock1899 (Oct 14, 2011)

From the sheer numbers of tarantula owners, you could deduce that that this happens with at least some degree of regularity. 

Incidents like this, while uncommon are well documented in medical literature. 

There is at least one medically documented instance of urticating hairs damaging the cornea so badly that permanent blindness in that eye resulted. The offending spider was a Grammastola as I recall.

Doing a search on Google/Scholar will, no doubt, turn up numerous articles and papers in ophthalmology on this subject. Particularly two conditions referred to as Tarantula keratouveitis and Ophthalmia nodosa. 

Even though your eye is feeling fine now, I would still consider having an ophthalmologist look at it. The reason is that the hairs could still be in your eye. Typical treatment is topical steroids, but even then, there are instances of lingering effects and irritation for months. Untreated, it could develop into something worse.

JMO, but I’m kind of anal when it comes to my vision. 

(…does that mean I have a crappy outlook on life?)

Reactions: Informative 1


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## Formerphobe (Oct 14, 2011)

> Even though your eye is feeling fine now, I would still consider having an ophthalmologist look at it. The reason is that the hairs could still be in your eye. ...there are instances of lingering effects and irritation for months. Untreated, it could develop into something worse.


+1
I would definitely get the opinion of an ophthalmologist.  Since the urticating hairs can migrate throughout the eye, or potentially cause an inflammatory tract or node, there is very real concern for vision impairment.  Ophthalmic steroidal applications would be contraindicated if there is an existing corneal ulcer.  (Side note: Don't ever use someone else's eye meds...)

When I received a known hair kicker, I wore goggles and a surgical mask and unpacked/rehoused her via bag method.  And still washed well and changed clothes afterwards.  I do similar when doing tank maintenance and might be stirring up hairs.  Perhaps a little overkill, but I value my vision and sinuses.


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