Fish Jaw Found in the Eye of a Beachgoer: Here’s What Happened

A rare "fish jaw" eye condition was reported in 2016 after a 52-year-old tourist went swimming at a Red Sea beach.

The case report indicated that the man left the destination with a souvenir he definitely did not want: "two fish jaws entrenched in his eyelid.

The report also said that while the tourist was swimming, he bumped into "a school of fish." Later, the man reportedly developed a seemingly worn-out and swollen eyelid that did not disappear even if one month had already passed.

He then went to visit his doctor. Afterwards, as stated in the report, an imaging test result presented, the man had an infection known as "granuloma in his eyelid."

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Surgery Needed 

To remove the granuloma, the doctors performed the surgery. However, the report said, while the surgery was ongoing, the surgeons removed a pair of "transparent tubular structures," from the patient's eyelid, as well. 

According to, Dr. Wolf Lagreze, from the Department of Ophthalmology at Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg in Germany he was stunned to discover the said "foreign structures" in the eye of the man.

This doctor who treated the patient guessed, the said structures he found in the man's eyelid, "belonged to a fish" as the latter told him he had a collision with an animal while he was swimming.

Meanwhile, a Thunen Institute of Sea Fisheries biologist helped in identifying the said foreign structures. As a result, he was able to determine the structures as the "jawbones of halfbeak," a kind of fish usually found in shallow and coastal waters.

Doctors' Perception 

The 2016 case report also indicated the doctors considered the fish jaws as the leading cause of the drooping of the man's eyelid.

The medical experts had thought so because they said, the fish's beaks "immobilized the muscles" which primary function is to "move the eyelid and eyeball upward."

Within three months of operation, the patient was able to recover fully and could already normally move his eyelid and eye.

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What is Granuloma?

As earlier mentioned, the initial result from the imaging test showed that the man had "granuloma." This, according to medical experts, is a "small area of inflammation" typically found on an imaging or X-ray test done for varying reasons.

While granuloma is considered a rare condition, it is usually noncancerous or benign. Usually, this small inflammation often occurs in the lungs.

However, it can also take place in other parts of the body and head. And like in the man's case, his granuloma occurred in his eyelid.

Medical studies have shown that granulomas appear to be "a defense mechanism" that causes the body to split foreign invaders like germs to stop them from spreading.

Common causes of this condition may include inflammatory condition also known "sarcoidosis," as well as infections like "histoplasmosis," which is also called tuberculosis. 

Finally, if a person does not experience any granuloma symptom, he may not need any treatment at all, not even a follow-up X-ray or any imaging test would be needed.

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