Woman Wakes Up to Tick in Her Eye After Spending Hours Doing Yard Work (Exclusive)

Alexis Christine was spending time at her second home in Kansas when an ordinary day took an unexpected turn. 

The 34-year-old tells PEOPLE she and her husband had spent the day clearing their yard, which hadn’t yet been treated for insects, such as ticks, which are especially abundant in the Midwest. 

“In Kansas, ticks are pretty normal outdoors…wildlife like deer and fox are commonly spotted in our yard, which means more ticks,” Christine says. “You really can’t avoid them if you plan to spend time in nature and I’m very outdoorsy!” 

After wrapping up their work, Christine discovered and removed nearly 20 seed ticks from her body, realizing too late that she hadn’t applied any bug spray that day. 

“This is the ‘baby’ stage of a tick so they are about the size of a pinpoint and hard to notice, usually smaller than a normal freckle,” she explains. “I made the mistake of not wearing long pants that day because it was so hot.”

A few days later, however, Christine woke up and removed her sleep mask, only to feel something strange along her lower left eyelid.

Upon closer inspection, she discovered a seed tick nestled between her eyelashes, sparking immediate panic. 

“I have had many ticks over the years growing up in the Midwest, but never anywhere near my eye,” Christine reveals. “I almost didn’t record it, but the decision came out of not really being able to believe a tick found its way onto my lash line.”

Unlike typical spots where ticks latch on, this one was harder to reach, making removal more challenging. In the process, Christine accidentally pulled out a small chunk of her eyelashes.

“Normally, when we get a tick off with tweezers, it is still crawling. We try to grab them as close to the skin as possible and firmly pull them up without squeezing them too hard. I always try to make sure I get the head out,” she says. “With this tick and the difficulty of the location, I accidentally killed it before I got it out with the tweezers.”

After removing the tick, she flushed it down the toilet and thoroughly cleaned the area around her eye. 

“In the Midwest, I don’t go to the doctor for tick bites unless I’m having a reaction to it,” Christine reveals. “The reason being is because is that it is so common that I’d end up at the doctor every few weeks.”

Instead, she carefully monitors for signs of infection or irritation. If she noticed a bullseye rash, pain, fever, or felt unwell, she would seek medical attention immediately.

“Every time after we do yard work or go on trail walks, we do at-home ‘tick checks’ where every inch of your body is checked for ticks,” Christine says.

“When they are this small and out in abundance, it’s easy to miss them and you find them days later once they have fed and gotten larger.” 

She and her husband also test annually for Lyme disease after any tick bites, even without symptoms. Having tested negative in early 2025, she plans to test again in early 2026.

While Christine is not a doctor or specialist, she advises caution when removing ticks, as improper methods can increase disease risk.

“It’s been a week and I luckily haven’t found any more,” Christine shares. “I have had the creepy crawlies ever since, though, and feel like I have something crawling in my hair every once in a while, but I know it’s just my imagination.”