A Parasite Took Over A Student's Eye And She Couldn't Sleep For A Week

Staying awake for 24 hours is always a challenge.

For a university student with an eye parasite, however, staying awake for more than one week straight was pure torture.

The ordeal began when University of Nottingham student Jessica Greaney left her lenses soaking in solution by the side of her sink. Coincidentally, a splash of tap water landed on her lens.

She claims she placed the lens in her eye, and a week later, her eye began to bulge.

The Telegraph reports Greaney was admitted to a local hospital March 26.

Doctors originally misdiagnosed the Birmingham, England student's condition as an ulcer.

Soon, however, it became apparent her "huge red golf ball" of an eye was actually due to Acanthamoeba keratitis, a condition where ameba attempt to eat through the cornea.

The bacteria lived between her contact and eyeball.

The only solution was to apply special eye drops every 10 minutes.

In other words, Greaney wasn't able to sleep through the night.

She reportedly said, "Even if I had managed to nod off, I could only get a couple of minutes' sleep before I was woken again."

"This parasite was still eating my eye and even worse, my immune system was shutting down because of my lack of sleep."

After intense treatment, Greaney's eye is steadily improving.

She'll never be quite so cavalier about ocular care again.

Citations: Teenager kept awake for week to stop parasite burrowing into eyeball (The Telegraph)