Contact Lens Wearers beware

[djpaul]

Hi All

 

Sorry i haven't been in touch for the past 4 months

In late March i was diagnosed with a very serious eye infection which has almost cost me my eye sight called Acanthomeba Kerratitis

Search the web and you will see how bad this infection can be.... I was very very lucky to be diagnosed within 3 days of feeling pain in my eye

Im still having treatment but at the beginning i couldn't see more than 6 foot in front of me due to a virus where parasites were basically attacking my Cornea 

Since then i have been on toxic eye drops to kill the virus.

IF ANY OF YOU GUYS WEAR CONTACT LENSES MY ADVISE IS STOP WEARING THEM NOW

Amoeba are single cell creatures that are found in all water and oceans , any contact with water on your lens means they will burry into your cornea

Generally these critters wont attack you but when trapped within your contact lens they will begin to eat away at your eye.

I still cant use my telescope but my sight is much much better now.

Im left with scarring on the surface of my eye that scatters the light 

 

I did manage to use my binos this week and im hopping my sight becomes good enough in the future to carry on with astronomy

 

Regards Paul

[Alan White]

Paul

My sympathies fella, that sounds quite horrific.
Hope the recovery continues well and you can get back to observing soon.

Alan

[Stu]

Sounds awful Paul, I really hope your sight recovers after not too long.

[djpaul]

Hi Alan

 

Yes i'm really hoping to get back observing very soon...

Paul

[westmarch]

Hi Paul,

sounds horrific!  Hope your sight continues to improve. 

I've worn specs for astigmatism the last 40 yrs and was considering soft lenses to make viewing less of a hassle. You've given me pause for thought. 

John

[djpaul]

Hi John

Before you consider Soft Lenses please consider the risks

Opticians will tell you there is a risk of infection with lenses, but never mension this particular parasite

Personally im back to glasses now 

Paul

[ronin]

Have they given any indication on how you caught or contracted the parasite/virus? As the saying goes "Prevention is bettter then cure".

Just thinking it cannot be a common thing as people have worn contact lenses, in hard or soft form, for at least 30+ years now.

I wear glasses and am a wimp in that I know nothing is going to make contact with my eye even if it is my finger applying it. Something resting on my nose is as close as I feel any material needs to get to my eyes.

[djpaul]

Yes it due to the contact lens coming in contact with water

When you consider one single drop of water could contain many ameoba 

Its not common however as more people now wear contacts its slowly becoming more common

You might consider it will never happen to you as there are only about 80 cases a year in the UK

However it did happen to me lol

 

Paul

[MarsG76]

That's horrible... mate, I hope you make a full recovery... eye damage is doubly bad for a astronomer... Wishing you all the best of luck with a full speedy recovery from downunder

 

[Moonshane]

It's an awful scenario but I take risk into account. Would you stop driving if told you can easily die doing it? You just have to accept there is a risk to everything from breathing to being an astronaut or whatever.

I hope things improve for you soon.

[Mr Spock]

Sounds horrible. I hope you have a good recovery.

[niallk]

Very sorry to hear that this happened to you, and I hope your eyes heal with time. I do wear daily disposable lenses - shocking and scary to hear of your experience.

The very best,

-Niall

[Galen Gilmore]

That sounds terrible! 

Best of luck to you, hope your eyesight continues to improve.

[Louis D]

When people ask me why I continue to wear eyeglasses instead of contacts or getting vision corrective surgery, I just point out I like having eye protection at all times.  I've had tree branches hit my eyeglasses when hiking in the daytime or just walking around my own yard in the dark.  Without glasses, I might have had major damage to my eye.  When my kids were very young, they used to poke me in the eye at seemingly random moments.  Again, glasses saved the day.  When washing my glasses, I've noticed several micro-impact craters of unknown origin over the years as well.  I have no idea what could have caused them, but it could have been my eye instead.  Lastly, they prevent eyepiece fogging by providing a moisture barrier between it and my eye.

I'm hoping you get full vision back someday.  Thanks for the heads up.  Welcome back to the brotherhood of eyeglass wearers.

[Dave In Vermont]

Glad you got medical intervention as quickly as you did! This year has been a medical problem for a great many people - including myself.

I'm actually surprised this sort of eye-infection doesn't happen far more often among those who, for whatever reason - cosmetic ones' quite often - dropped their glasses for contact-lenses. If you take the prevalence of bacteria such as what got you and seal them up against moist, warm tissue in an anaerobic environment, one is just begging for these to rapidly bloom. With often devastating results.

I love my collection of eyeglasses! I'll make a point of issuing a warning to people I meet who still wear those awful contact-lenses.

Take care -

Dave

[Moonshane]

I am not in any way demeaning your warning or suffering  but as i said earlier everything has risk e.g.

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/news/20060428/eyeglasses-can-be-hazardous&ved=0ahUKEwjUm_GVgK7VAhVLAsAKHY3SDn4QFgg0MAI&usg=AFQjCNGE_6qEpyAG0pE8YUKIvS4yPa8Q2A

[carastro]

I have heard about this problem before.  I wear daily disposables and presume the solution they come in is sterile.  Opticians always tells you to wash your hands before inserting and removing contact lenses and here is a contact with water.  

It's therefore important to thoroughly dry your hands before inserting contact lenses.

So sorry to hear about your awful problem.

I have been using contact lenses for some 25 years and only once had conjunctivitis, this was in the days before daily disposables when you had to clean them daily which is not so easy with soft lenses.

Generally I find it very difficult to look through telescopes with glasses, particularly doing polar alignment when the glasses are at the wrong angle to see properly up the polar scope. 

Carole 

 

[Charic]

..... as carastro points out and I remember the process very well, there is a sterilisation process involved, and guidelines as to  how long one can wear contacts.
Even so, someone, somewhere, could still suffer some misfortune regardless of the cleansing/wearing program,.

I've  looked for some time with regards to corrective surgery, laser treatment, but still can decide if its the best course of action, yet my vision suffers little change, looking at the records, but I need a slight correction for driving, the only time I wear them! 

I know for one family member, laser surgery has been life changing, and for the best! expensive, but the result speaks volumes.
 

 

[Moonshane]

I wear mine for 30  days 24/7 and throw them away so less risk I imagine. I cannot envisage amoeba living in tap water in the UK at least but might be wrong. Looking online it seems that risk is greatly increased if you have a water storage tank.

[Cosmic Geoff]

I wore hard contact lenses some decades ago but gave them up as I found them too troublesome to manage. They tended to get stuff between them and my eye which meant they had to be regularly fished out and cleaned - often inconvenient. As for infections, I am very sorry to hear about the OP's problem, but the overall risk appears low and should be minimized by using the correct procedures and sterile solutions. It doesn't seem a reason for others to give up on contacts without taking professional advice. 

[Dave In Vermont]

11 minutes ago, Moonshane said:

I wear mine for 30  days 24/7 and throw them away so less risk I imagine. I cannot envisage amoeba living in tap water in the UK at least but might be wrong. Looking online it seems that risk is greatly increased if you have a water storage tank.

You also need to factor in that if the addition of, say, chlorine into the water will kill off the bacteria at a ratio of 99.95% - that little .05% has learned to adapt to it's new chlorine-rich environment! In other words: They adapt readily. This is where we get what's called 'superbugs.'

Research at one hospital in the US, which was responding to an exponential spike in cases of flesh-eating bacteria that was maiming and killing people, found one strain that was alive and reproducing merrily in full-strength chlorine-bleach!

Not fanning-the-flames of paranoia here, just sharing some tidbits from the wide-world of research sciences - which are being outlawing in the Untied Snakes as of late...

Dave

[Gina]

Very sorry to hear of your eye damage - terrifying   Hope you get full sight back and soon   I'm in the camp that I don't want anything near, let alone in my eyes.  I have worn glasses most of my life and now need several pairs to cover the range of distances where I need to see clearly.  Short sighted with astigmatism too.  Glasses are a nuisance but I've never even contemplated the thought of contact lenses!

[Louis D]

5 hours ago, Moonshane said:

I am not in any way demeaning your warning or suffering  but as i said earlier everything has risk e.g.

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/news/20060428/eyeglasses-can-be-hazardous&ved=0ahUKEwjUm_GVgK7VAhVLAsAKHY3SDn4QFgg0MAI&usg=AFQjCNGE_6qEpyAG0pE8YUKIvS4yPa8Q2A

On the other hand, I took a volleyball serve to the eye that would have hit the back of my head had I not turned my head around to see what was taking the server so long.  My prescription lens and frame distributed the impact to the bones around my eye socket.  I had some nice gouges where various metal bits of the frame dug in through my thin skin to the bone (think nose pad holder in particular), but my eye was absolutely fine.  The polycarbonate lens was unscathed as well.  Conversely, a coworker who doesn't wear eyeglasses (good vision, so no need) was carrying too many boxes down a flight of stairs and tumbled into them, leaving him with a red and black eyeball for weeks.  His ophthalmologist checked him out and saw no long term damage, but boy did he look disturbing while it healed.  It takes a lot to break a polycarbonate lens.

[wxsatuser]

Get well soon.

I will stick with glasses, worn them for 54 years and see no need to change.

[wxsatuser]

3 minutes ago, Louis D said:

On the other hand, I took a volleyball serve to the eye that would have hit the back of my head had I not turned my head around to see what was taking the server so long.  My prescription lens and frame distributed the impact to the bones around my eye socket.  I had some nice gouges where various metal bits of the frame dug in through my thin skin to the bone (think nose pad holder in particular), but my eye was absolutely fine.  The polycarbonate lens was unscathed as well.  Conversely, a coworker who doesn't wear eyeglasses (good vision, so no need) was carrying too many boxes down a flight of stairs and tumbled into them, leaving him with a red and black eyeball for weeks.  His ophthalmologist checked him out and saw no long term damage, but boy did he look disturbing while it healed.  It takes a lot to break a polycarbonate lens.

Same here but another cyclist plowed into me on the way home one night and the peak of his helmit
hit me straight in the right eye. Brand new glasses took the impact, the edge of the lens cut a deep grove
in my cheek, about 8 sutures fixed it but if I was'nt wearing glasses, most likely no eye.