My guess is the eye is having trouble staying open. The viewer can not see because she/he needs to keep them closed almost all the way. The reason I say this is because when an egg is first split by a chick, snake, turtle, bug, or whatever creature from an egg- this is piping. "newly opened." More to the context would help me be sure this is what is meant.

Pipe: It means in this instance to dab away moisture(wipe gently with a cloth). The smoke made us cough and wipe our teary eyes.(our eyes were watering from the smoke) 1883: Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island Our chimney was a square hole in the roof: it was but a little part of the smoke that found its way out, and the rest eddied about the house, and kept us coughing and piping the eye. Dab: Press against (something) lightly with a piece of absorbent material in order to clean or dry it: "he dabbed his mouth with his napkin"