Tick found on Pennsylvania boy's eye: "Check everywhere"
A Pennsylvania family found a tick in the strangest of places and wants others to be aware that this can happen to them, too.
On May 26, 12-year-old Avery Yanak felt something in his eye while at school in Greene County. He thought it was a piece of dirt, and so did the school nurse. When he got home, his parents agreed.
Then, a few hours later, they took a phone out, zoomed in, and saw there were legs. His mom Cori Yanak said they never would have known it was a tick without looking through the camera.
"I was worried, like I was gonna go blind in my right eye, or I was gonna get like Lyme disease," Avery Yanak told KDKA.
Once they realized it was a tick, Cori Yanak said they weren't taking any chances and raced to the emergency room, where medical professionals saw it wasn't embedded. With numbing drops, they were able to pluck it out with a pair of tweezers and prescribed Avery antibiotics as a precaution to prevent any tickborne diseases.
"There was no guideline," Cori Yanak said. "They just were trying to figure out what the best thing to do was."
It's a location that perplexed the chair of Allegheny Health Network ophthalmology, Dr. Deval Paranjpe.
"Even on the eyelid is quite unusual," Paranjpe said.
However, knowing ticks can go anywhere, she said there's no reason to believe it couldn't happen.
"Trying to remove it yourself, you could cause injury to the eye, and that might be worse than having a tick there," Paranjpe said.
Avery Yanak is lucky as he still has his eyesight and is doing well.
"It's kind of mind-boggling how they can just get into the craziest of areas," Cori Yanak said.
The scary moment has led his family to be extra cautious. They now do thorough tick checks every night.
"Just make sure you're always looking out for ticks when you're playing outside, and just be sure to check everywhere, like your legs, in between your fingers, or even your eyes," Avery Yanak said.
It's unclear how the tick reached his eye. Dr. Paranjpe said if you happen to find yourself in this situation, go to your ER as soon as possible.
