The Dirofilaria parasite in the orbit.

A 51-year-old white man had proptosis, pain, and inflammation of the left orbit and later developed diplopia. Treatment with antibiotics relieved most of the symptoms but a localized painful mass persisted in the left orbit. On biopsy a Dirofilaria worm was found. The patient was treated with corticosteroids and the residual nodule subsided. The patient was seen regularly for five months after surgery and the lesion has not recurred.