Well the answer is that it depends Normally static at home is not dangerous
as the voltage is very high but the current is low and the duration brief.
I'd expect no more damage to the eye than if it got scratched by flying
debris or whatever, and I'm sure we have all experienced that.
Obviously there are places and nerves that can be affected, and there are
lots of nerves in the finger tips and parts of the face, but generally
things get back to normal in a few hours.
Having been near two lightning strikes I can tell you its not pleasant, but
if your friend really had experienced a lightning strike directly to the
phone line the phone and her would be toast. No matter how earthed a device
is, it cannot cope with the huge current of lightning. In one case I was
standing by a building that got hit, and a split second before it happened
I felt my hair being pulled and prickled all over. No time to do or say
anything. a huge flash and a very very loud bang and I was deaf for about
five minutes with an effect like ears full of water for about another ten.
You do not want to be that close. The heat I and others felt was quite bad,
but luckily none of us were burned but there was a bloody great hole in the
roof of the warehouse just next to the door. all the computers and
electronic gear were destroyed.

The second time I was walking our dog and it hit an Electricity pylon just
by where I was standing. Same again from the sound and radiated heat, but no
static this time.
I blame the tinnitus I get on the first one myself. Not much one can do
about it though.
So your answer is as I say, it depends, but if its merely like you get off
filing cabinets, car doors, vacuum cleaner pipes earthed screws on light
switches or duvets, then its unlikely to cause permanent harm, and just be
an irritation.
Brian

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"Bob F" wrote in message
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On 12/14/2018 10:41 AM, Fred Johnson wrote:
Could static electricity to the eyeball cause lasting harm? Normally you
just jump and swear with a static shock to your finger etc, but I've
found two instances on google of pain lasting a few days when someone got
a shock on their nose (one in a shop from a perfume bottle they were
smelling, and one from a blanket at home). But what if it got your
eyeball?

A neighbor of mine got shocked by her landline phone when lightning struck
while I was talking to her on my phone. It turned out that the phone line
protective ground had been disconnected. She said that her hearing was
hyper-sensitive for weeks after that. Everything was way louder.