“What is a lump of eye that has drooped down to the chest?”… A man in his 30s infected with parasites can’t even see, what’s going on?

A case was reported in a man whose eyes were infected with parasites, where the tumor continued to grow until it reached the point where it reached his chest, blinding his eyes and rendering him blind.

According to a recent case published in a British Medical Journal case report by medical staff at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Bhubaneswar, India, an unnamed man in his 30s suffered from a lump in his left eye. I went to the hospital defeated. The symptoms began with swelling of his left eyelid, and over time the lump stretched from the eyelid to the chest area. Over the course of five years, the lump grew to the size of a grapefruit, pulling on the surrounding skin, causing the left eye to become covered with saggy skin and no longer able to see. Medical staff reported that his condition was “causing severe functional impairment and disfigurement.”

He visited the hospital in serious condition with a drooping eye lump. As a result of his examination, the circular, pendulous mass (tumor) itself was 15cm x 14cm in diameter, the size of a grapefruit. This mass was connected to the eye socket by skin and tissue and had stretched to a length of 10 cm.

Test results showed that it was caused by infection with a parasite called Rhinosporidium seeberi, which causes tumors in the tissues around the nose and eyes. The tissue around the eye became inflamed and a tumor mass developed. Accordingly, the patient was diagnosed with rhinosporidiosis caused by this water parasite and angiofibroma, a benign tumor made of blood vessels and fibrous tissue. Medical staff stated that it is rare for these parasitic infections and tumors to appear simultaneously.

Doctors said it was unclear how the man contracted the parasite or how long it remained in his body, but it was likely linked to swimming or bathing in freshwater ponds, lakes or rivers, as previously reported.

Surgeons performed surgery to remove this mass from the man’s eye. By cauterizing the deformed giant blood vessels supplying the mass, bleeding was prevented and the stretched skin was reconstructed. The man recovered after surgery, and his left eye, which had been covered with flesh, regained its original appearance and his vision also recovered.

The medical staff said in the report, “Three months after surgery, the patient recovered his vision and anatomical function well,” and added, “The definite link between angiofibroma and rhinosporidiosis has not yet been revealed, but this case suggests a link between the two diseases.” “It suggests,” he said. “It is important for (medical staff) to recognize that these conditions may overlap, especially if the tumor has been present for a long period of time,” he said.

Infection caused by water parasites that live in tropical climates such as India and Sri Lanka… It can even lead to angiofibroma

Rhinosporidium severi, which caused the man’s eye problems, is a water parasite found mainly in tropical and subtropical regions and can cause infections in both humans and animals. It is known that this parasite is highly susceptible to infection in freshwater environments such as ponds, rivers, and lakes. When it enters the human body, it affects areas such as the nose, eyes, and mouth through mucous membranes, causing tumor-type lesions. It occurs especially frequently in tropical climate areas such as India and Sri Lanka.

Rhinosporidiosis, a chronic infectious disease caused by the Rhinosporidium severi parasite, mainly infects mucosal areas such as the nose and conjunctiva, which can cause abnormal tumors or nodules. Infection can cause nasal congestion, abnormal bleeding, conjunctival congestion, and asymmetrical facial changes. Lesions occur in the form of red or gray polyps or lumps that grow inside the nasal cavity. Typically, after diagnosis through biopsy, the lesion is removed through surgical resection and cauterization. Because antibiotics or antifungal drugs are not effective, surgical treatment is mainly performed.

In this case, angiofibroma, which accompanied rhinosporidiosis in this man, is a benign tumor composed of blood vessels and fibrous tissue, and mainly occurs in the nose and mucosal tissue around the nose. Juvenile Nasopharyngeal Angiofibroma, which appears in adolescence (especially men), is the most common. It is a tumor that occurs in the nasal cavity or nasopharynx. It is rich in blood vessels and appears as a lump with a high risk of bleeding. The main symptoms are nasal congestion, nosebleeds, facial pain, and in severe cases, headache and vision impairment. The treatment method is determined depending on the size and location of the tumor, and surgical resection is common. Because the tumor has many blood vessels, the risk of bleeding is high, so vascular embolization is performed before surgery to reduce bleeding.

As reported by medical staff, it is very rare for rhinosporidiosis and angiofibroma to occur together, but this coexistence is presumed to be a case where the inflammatory response caused by parasitic infection affects the tissue, resulting in tumors such as angiofibroma.