NBA players have often been forced to navigate exhausting storms to recover from injuries, but Marcus Smart could easily have the cake after dealing with a double eye infection for the past couple of weeks.

The Boston Celtics defensive ace explained the excruciating pain he's felt since hitting the sidelines with this setback, one he hopes he never has to experience again.

“So it was painful, it was burning … it was really hard,” Smart told reporters on Tuesday ahead of a Christmas Day matchup against the Toronto Raptors, according to ESPN's Tim Bontemps. “I couldn't see. I had outdoor sunglasses everywhere. Even in the dark I was wearing sunglasses. It was that bad. Just every morning I would wake up just having sticky discharge coming out of my eyes, sealing my eyes shut. It was really just gross.

“It got so bad that my eyes, my eyelids started forming these mucus membranes, and they literally had to go in and pry the mucus membranes out.”

The description of the following is harrowing and not for the faint of heart:

“I actually have a picture that I showed the guys. It was pretty gross,” said Smart. “I was bleeding tears every time they did it, for like a day. They did that for about four days straight. The first day was probably the worst, just because it built up so much that it started to scab under my eyelids, and they had to open the scab and then pull it out. It felt like they were putting needles in my eyes. They were using tweezers and vice grips to hold my eyes and actually get into my eyelids, the bottom and top.

“It was definitely some pain, and I never want to go through it again and, like I said, I never want anybody else to go through it.”

Smart feels ready to take the court again, but the Celtics will be cautious and sit him against the Raptors to prevent any setbacks. The guard has missed the past six games with this nasty infection to his eyes, but looks to take the court before the end of the calendar year.