Tick Removed From Kentucky Man’s Eye

A Kentucky man was scared when he learned he had a tick attached to his eye.

Published: 7/17/2019, 10:13:45 AM EDT

Tick Removed From Kentucky Man’s Eye — A tick, whose bite can transmit Lyme disease, in a file photo. (Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images)

A Kentucky man was stunned to learn the irritation in one of his eyes was caused by a tick.

Chris Prater, an electric company worker in eastern Kentucky, always sprays himself with insect repellent before he heads out to his job that involves trimming trees away from power lines, reported WYMT.

An electrical worker cuts tree branches with a machete to clear a downed power line. (Ricardo Arduengo/AFP/Getty Images) — An electrical worker cuts tree branches with a machete to clear a downed power line. Ricardo Arduengo/AFP/Getty Images

After leaving a job site in Johnson County, where he and his crew were freeing a tree from some power lines, Prater started having "irritation" in one of his eyes.

Prater asked his office safety manager to take a look. The two discovered a spot on the eye, and it remained there, even after Prater flushed his eye numerous times.

Prater hesitated to go to the doctor, hoping whatever got into his eye would come out on its own. But he eventually made an appointment with a local optometrist as the irritation persisted.

"When the doctor finally comes in, he was looking at it. He said, 'I know what's in your eye,'" Prater recalled. He said he was scared when the doctor explained that the irritating spot turned out to be a tick.

A picture shows a tick. (Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images) — A picture shows a tick. Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images

"I leaned around and looked at him and I asked him if he was joking and he said, 'No, you have a deer tick or some type of tick,'" laughed Prater. "It was very little."

To remove the tick, the doctor numbed Prater’s eye and pulled it out with a pair of tweezers. "Once he grabbed ahold of it and pulled it off, the tick made a, like a little popping sound when it came off of my eye," Prater recalled. He was sent home with antibiotics and steroid drops for his eye, which is now on the mend, reported WYMT.

Ticks can’t jump or fly, according to WebMD, so they cling to tall grass, brush, and shrubs and climb onto people or animals walking by. When walking or hiking in a wooded area, one should stay in the center of trails. Campers should not sit on the ground or walk through leaves in order to avoid ticks.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises people to check their clothing for ticks after they come indoors. Ticks can ride into the home on clothing and pets, then attach to a person later, therefore pets, coats, and daypacks should also be carefully examined.

The CDC reminds people to shower soon after being outdoors. Showering may help wash off unattached ticks and it is a good opportunity to do a tick check. Ticks can hide themselves under the arms, in and around the ears, inside belly buttons, on the back of the knees, in and around the hair, between the legs, and around the waist.