BreakTheChain.org
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In the Blink of an EyeDate Added: Mar. 3, 2003
Outrageous, gross and intriguing photographs are the "reality TV" of the Internet. In most cases, the image has been manipulated or created in image-editing software. In other cases, such as this one, the photo is real, but the story accompanying it is doctored. WARNING: This message contains graphic images that may not be suitable for all viewers. This poor guy was minding his own business & he felt an eye irritation. Thinking that it was just regular dust, he started to rub his eye, in an effort to remove the dust. Then his eyes got really red, so he bought some eye drops from the pharmacy. A few days passed and his eyes were still red and seemed a little swollen. Again he dismissed it as dust & continued rubbing, hoping it would go away. As the days went by, the swelling of his eye got worse & the redness increased until he decided to go and see a doctor for a check up. The doctor immediately wanted an operation, being afraid of a tumor growth or cyst. At the operation, what was thought to be a growth or cyst, actually turned out to be a live worm. What was thought initially to be just mere dust actually was an insect's egg.....look at the initial swelling of his eye in the first picture! Harmless, huh? Enjoy your breakfast !!!
Gross-out tales are a popular form of urban legend. Stories of bizarre and gruesome insect infestations remind us that our bodies are not necessarily our own. In most cases, these scare tales are created out of whole cloth. In this case, we have real pictures accompanied by a real story, offering only the vaguest of details, leaving much of the tale up to the reader's imagination. Many readers saw this chain for what it is: An anonymous third person account with no verifiable details. As a result, they were rightfully skeptical that what they were looking at was real. In July, 2000, the American Medical Association published a professional journal that included these photographs and a description of a procedure used to extract a human botfly larva from the eye socket of a 5-year old boy in Honduras. The article asserts that such infestation is extremely rare, relatively harmless and easily extracted - but that doesn't make it any less creepy. In the case of this letter, a picture is, indeed, worth a thousand words. Unfortunately, it is the words that are not said that make this chain worth breaking. Though the images are gruesome, they are not indicative of any terrible danger that could be lingering in the air around you, and you probably shouldn't panic the next time you get dust in your eye. Break this chain. References: Snopes.com |
