This photo shows a small piece of metal that is stuck to the surface of the cornea. This is a common presentation to an ophthalmology clinic, as there are tons of people out their grinding metal.

Most of these flakes are from metal dust that falls into the eye (ie. the stuff gets stuck in the hair and ends up in the eye later on). These metal pieces really stick to the cornea, and quickly rust and can cause infections if not removed.

Watch our metal foreign body video to see what this looks like and watch it’s removal with a needle.