Drs. Ali Mahdavi Fard and Leili Pourafkari recently published an article in The New England Journal of Medicine about this unusual case. A patient had a hairy mass of tissue growing on one of his eyes:
A 19-year-old man presented to our ophthalmology clinic with a mass in his right eye that had been present since birth but had gradually increased in size. He did not have pain, but the mass caused vision defects, mild discomfort on blinking, and the intermittent sensation of the presence of a foreign body. Physical examination revealed a white, ovoid mass, 5 mm by 6 mm, that straddled the inferotemporal limbus (Panel A), with several black hairs (Panel B).
The doctors surgically removed the mass.
(Photo: Tabriz University of Medical Sciences)
My kitten had this affliction when he was born, minus the mass. Just hairs actually growing on his eyeball. He had to go in once a month for eyeball plucking and when he was five months old he had actual surgery and came through fine.
This is probably not cool to do, but here are links if you're interested:
The discovery
Ol' Bum Eye
Vet Day
He's alright!