get first row only with DB::select() laravel

I need to get first row only when executing raw sql query.

The query is actually a bit long and complicated and so I decided to execute it raw.

$query = 'select name, email from users where id > ?'; // this is quite long and complicated query actually.

return DB::select($query, [ $user_id ])->first();

Using ->first() gives Call to a member function first() on array exception.

Is there any way that I get the first row only without updating on the query itself?

via Chebli Mohamed