Contact lenses, water and blindness

I read the article below last week and if you know anybody who wears contact lenses let them know about it. Essentially, be very careful when using water near your contact lenses. This includes not using contacts when in the shower. In all my years wearing contacts I have never heard that water could pose such a threat to eyesight, let alone heard of Acanthamoeba Keratitis (AK).

When Irenie Ekkeshis's eye started to itch she assumed it would soon settle down. It didn't. Before long, she found herself in excruciating pain and lost her sight in that eye. And the cause may have been nothing more than handling her contact lenses with wet fingers.... Within days she was told she had Acanthamoeba Keratitis (AK), a rare but serious eye infection caused by a micro-organism that's common in tap water, sea water and swimming pools...

Full article: 'I was blinded by my contact lenses'

theteal

MrsTeal's cousin had a serious issue only the other week that I suspect is related to the above. He was put on a proper cocktail of meds, not sure how healed it all is at this stage.

I stopped using contacts almost a decade ago when I started having issues. Nothing too major but a bit of a short period of dry eyes, cloudy buildup on the lens. I went back to my disgracefully old specs for a while and then got the zap zap shortly after.

judeboy101

I'm interested in how the contact lenses contribute to the infection surely I you get the microorganism in your eye it can happen with or without lenses?

Tazzle

judeboy101 wrote: »

I'm interested in how the contact lenses contribute to the infection surely I you get the microorganism in your eye it can happen with or without lenses?

Multifactorial. Foreign body, interruption of membrane defences, altered oxygenation of cornea which receives its oxygenation directly from air due to its lack of blood supply, etc

(Yes it can happen without contacts, but it's dramatically increased with contact lense use.)

judeboy101

Tazzle wrote: »

Multifactorial. Foreign body, interruption of membrane defences, altered oxygenation of cornea which receives its oxygenation directly from air due to its lack of blood supply, etc

(Yes it can happen without contacts, but it's dramatically increased with contact lense use.)

I change contacts straight after a swim (disposables) surely that's not enough time for infection to set in?

JellieBabie

judeboy101 wrote: »

I'm interested in how the contact lenses contribute to the infection surely I you get the microorganism in your eye it can happen with or without lenses?

The bacteria is able to stick to the lense and grow on it in a way it cannot on an eyeball.

Tazzle

judeboy101 wrote: »

I change contacts straight after a swim (disposables) surely that's not enough time for infection to set in?

I'd imagine that significantly reduces your risk of infection, that's what I do too anyway.

IvyTheTerrible

What about if you use disposable lenses?

It can even be caused by wearing your contact lenses too long. It is relatively easily treated if caught early. When I worked in an ophthalmology hospital in Manchester, you would see only 2-3 cases a month and that was a specialist centre. So it's relatively rare. It can be a pain though. Requiring hourly antibiotic/ fungal eye drops for a week or two. Wrecks your sleep pattern.

Loveinapril

As far as I know it's to do with the seal that is created when you put the lenses in. No oxygen gets to your eye for the duration of wearing them. I could wear my disposables for up to 13 hours a day. They make this really clear when you get contacts.

I'm terrified of lenses just because I hate the thought of touching my eye. I don't even know if you can wear them when you only wear glasses for reading anyway.

I'd love to get the zap, but I'm pretty apprehensive about that procedure too.

Winterlong

Scaremongering is all it is.
Dont wear your lenses for longer than recommended. Be hygenic and keep your fingers out of your eyes. Follow the opticians instructions when using lenses. You will be grand.

wakka12

Well if this were as easily caught as the article would have you believe then we would know dozens of people blind people personally. I know of exactly zero, and huge amounts of people I know wear contact lenses

dreamers75

I hate when they travel into the back of your eye, takes days to get the bastard out.

Gunslinger92

dreamers75 wrote: »

I hate when they travel into the back of your eye, takes days to get the bastard out.

This has happened to me a few times when I've rubbed my eye. Get the torch on your phone to see exactly where it's ended up, blink loads and loads, and if you can bear it, bring it down to where it should be with your finger and then take it out as normal. Should definitely not take days to get it back out :pac:

IvyTheTerrible

dreamers75 wrote: »

I hate when they travel into the back of your eye, takes days to get the bastard out.

I call BS on this. No way anyone could put up with a lens in the back of their eye for a few days!

TheChizler

Winterlong wrote: »

Scaremongering is all it is.
Dont wear your lenses for longer than recommended. Be hygenic and keep your fingers out of your eyes. Follow the opticians instructions when using lenses. You will be grand.

Which includes not letting water near your eyes while putting them in or the duration of them being in. I for example was told this when I first got them years ago but had entirely forgotten until someone else posted this article a few days ago.

Widdershins

Candie wrote: »

I'm terrified of lenses just because I hate the thought of touching my eye. I don't even know if you can wear them when you only wear glasses for reading anyway.

I'd love to get the zap, but I'm pretty apprehensive about that procedure too.

Yes, you could get contacts to suit what you need them for. Honestly, you don't even feel it when you're putting them in. They're really liberating if you don't like glasses very much.

R.E the OP, People just need to make sure you never use tap water with your contacts, always use the proper saline solution and give them a good rinse between finger and thumb to clean them and avoid build up of the white cloudy substance someone mentioned. Don't over-wear them. Buy long - wear contacts if you are inclined to leave them in for longer than recommended. It's just one of those very rare things, no need to be afraid of contacts if you treat them properly.

If I get a lot of tap water in my eyes with contacts in it hurts a bit, more or less straight away.

JellieBabie

Also use hydrogen peroxide solutions to clean lenses at night rather than the generic one for all solutions. It's the only type that can kill the bug.

sabat

I was considering getting laser eye surgery until I read this thread and discovered that people are calling it "the zap zap"

amtc

I didn't realise until recently enough that the ability to wear contact lenses was limited. I got mine at 12 and was lucky to get 25 years out of them. Then they started tightening and generally being uncomfortable. Hated wearing my glasses as they make everything further away and blacker. Played havoc with my balance on stairs. Plus completely changed my personality.

Anyway ended up getting laser treatment seven years ago. Advised done before 40 i believe. I was 37. Three minutes. Brought my mam with me in case couldn't see. Was fine within twenty minutes. No pain. Was actually comic as surgeon fell down stairs on way to perform.

Can swim, travel no issue and read to last line on charts. Best decision ever.

Surreptitious

I wear contacts and never had a problem with them except back when the smoking ban wasn't around and you'd be sitting in a pub smoked out of it with red eyes. I got the heeby geebys reading this thread though.

Avatar MIA

Apparently, if the same article I read, contact lenses cause tiny abrasions on the cornea and increase possibility of infection.

razorblunt

Time for the laser eye surgery I think.
I use disposables anyway, so confused if i should wash my hands or not.

Loveinapril

razorblunt wrote: »

Time for the laser eye surgery I think.
I use disposables anyway, so confused if i should wash my hands or not.

Wash them but just make sure they are dry before you go near the contacts.

Fighting Tao

If you read the instructions/data sheet, death would most likely be mentioned as a potential side effect too.

TheChizler

JellieBabie wrote: »

Also use hydrogen peroxide solutions to clean lenses at night rather than the generic one for all solutions. It's the only type that can kill the bug.

And don't mix it up with eye drops like I did one time!