To report the surgical technique to remove a chestnut thorn through a corneal incision.

A 54-year-old female visited our clinic complaining of a sudden foreign body sensation and conjunctival injection in her left eye after picking chestnuts 4 days prior to her visit. Visual acuity of both eyes was 1.0 and the intraocular pressures were within normal limits. Slit lamp examination revealed that a chestnut thorn had deeply penetrated the left corneal stroma and a small number of inflammatory cells were observed in the anterior chamber. There was no corneal defect stained with fluorescein and the Seidel test was negative. A corneal foreign body comprised of a chestnut thorn and its remnants was diagnosed and emergency surgery was performed. A partial corneal incision was made along the foreign body and the exposed foreign body was easily and completely removed. The patient was treated with topical antibiotics after surgery and no complication was observed during a follow-up period of 3 months.

In the case of a corneal foreign body comprised of a chestnut thorn, the foreign body with its remnants were easily removed by performing a partial corneal incision.