Doctors in Taiwan have found four small sweat bees alive inside the eye of a woman.

Key points: Sweat bees are found around the world and are known for their attraction to perspiration

Sweat bees are found around the world and are known for their attraction to perspiration Ophthalmologist Hong Chi Tang said it was a first for Taiwan to find the bees in the eyes

Ophthalmologist Hong Chi Tang said it was a first for Taiwan to find the bees in the eyes Dr Hong said the woman could have gone blind if she had rubbed her eyes

The woman, known as Ms He, had visited Fooyin University Hospital in south-west Taiwan with a stinging pain in her left eye after visiting her ancestor's grave during a yearly tomb-sweeping festival.

The BBC reported she had been pulling out weeds when a gust of wind blew what she thought was dirt into her eye.

But the pain kept up after several hours.

"It was a very intense stinging pain and I was constantly shedding tears, there was a lot of secretion," she said.

Dr Hong (right) removed the four bees from Ms He's left eye. ( Supplied: Apple Daily Newspaper )

Ophthalmologist Hong Chi Tang said he was surprised to find something alive in her eye.

"After I pulled them out one by one, I discovered that surprisingly there were four bees," Dr Hong said.

"The size of every single bee was around 0.3 to 0.4 centimetres."

The sweat bee is named for its attraction to perspiration. ( Supplied: Missouri Department of Conservation )

The insects were sweat bees, also known as halictidae, which are found around the world and known for their attraction to perspiration.

Dr Hong told the BBC the discovery of the bees was a first for the country and the insects were still alive and being studied.

He said Ms He was lucky she did not lose her sight.

"She was wearing contact lenses so she didn't dare to rub her eyes in case she broke the lens. If she did she could have induced the bees to produce venom … she could have gone blind," Dr Hong told the BBC.

ABC/ AP