Recently I came across a video of a couple, the woman was 36 weeks pregnant and had already lost video in one eye, unfortunately for her during the process of vision loss she got misdiagnosed with different conditions and eventually she was diagnosed with acanthamoeba keratitis which is sight threatening and one of the most disturbing and difficult infections to treat.
It is a very painful condition to have mainly because it involves the cornea and we may already know or perhaps if you did not know, the cornea is one of the most sensitive organs in the entire body and so any damage to it, even bruises can be extremely painful, and in this case, it is an ulcer, so you can imagine the discomfort she has to go through every day.
For her, as at the time she decided to share her story her cornea specialist informed her that she might either lose the eye or undergo a cornea transplant which gives her only a 60% percent chance of saving the eye or some vision.
Unfortunately for her, this whole issue could have easily been avoided had she not bathed in her contact lenses. But she didn't know, she didn't get the education she ought to have had and although the video didn't specify where she may have gotten her lenses, I feel if it had been from a professional she would have been well-educated and given the necessary solutions to keep it, etc.
Be careful with Your Contact Lenses
First and foremost, if you ever feel the need to use contact lenses, perhaps due to your job demand such that wearing glasses would impede your productivity at work or perhaps you just want to switch from your glasses or spectacles to contact lenses, even if you want contact lenses for the beauty of it, maybe you want to change the appearance of your iris or eye color as fashion now has it. Please and please again, do get it from your Optometrist or your Ophthalmologist.
Do not just order it online and start using it. Contact lens prescription goes through different phases and trials to get you the best fit, if it is too step it could pressed against your cornea and cause an edema later, if it is too loose it can dislodge and find itself somewhere within your palpebral causing discomfort which later have to be removed by an Optometrist. Why go through that stress when you can easily get things done right.
The other reason why I recommend doing this right by seeing your Optometrist or Ophthalmologist for your contact lenses whichever purpose it seeks to serve is because it is through the consultation process that you would get to know what you ought to know for your safety in terms of contact lens usage. There are contact lenses that could be slept with, it is safe for a period but then they ought not to exceed a certain time frame.
Then some have to be disposed of at the end of the day, and some can be kept for a long time and reused every day but they have to be well kept and cleaned every day in their solutions, their solutions ought to change very often and you ought to have some review times where you Optometrist keeps checking if all is well with your eyes. It is absolutely a no-no to bath in or with your contact lenses.
Do not swim with your contact lens on, do not clean your contact lens with tap water, and certainly do not give out your contact lens to be used by friends and family, it is not to be shared. Consider it as private property, the same way you do not share your underwear, it is the same way I do not want you to share your contact lens.
Now the last point I want us to consider more seriously is to book an appointment immediately if you start to notice discomfort or pain in the eye if you are a contact lens wearer. If you start noticing redness, please see your Optometrist right away for diagnoses and care, if you have to wait for your appointment period to see him or her I would recommend discontinuing your contact lens usage until your Optometrist says it is safe once again.
Ocular infections tend to be treatable but acanthamoeba infection which is seen mostly amongst contact lens wearers are the most stubborn ones to get rid of, they are extremely resilient and causes a lot of damage to your eyes, which could easily lead to loss of vision or complete blindness in the infected eye, in addition to this, it is very very painful. So please be aware and take better care of yourself.
Conclusion
I say these things not to scare you or discourage you from the use of contact lenses, no, many continue to use their contact lenses daily following the safety precautions given to them by their primary caregiver, they obey and do what is right for the safety of their eyes and they have been fine and so you can actually use contact lenses.
However, I seek to draw your attention to the hazards that come with it so you will do what is right and protect your eyes and sight accordingly. As I always say, when in doubt, please speak to a professional, doing things on your own could be really costly for your ocular health. Stay safe.
Further Reading
Bloise L. (2017). Surveillance, hygiène et entretien des lentilles de contact [Contact lens care and maintenance]. Journal francais d'ophtalmologie, 40(4), 329–337. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfo.2017.01.004.
Stapleton, F., Bakkar, M., Carnt, N., Chalmers, R., Vijay, A. K., Marasini, S., Ng, A., Tan, J., Wagner, H., Woods, C., & Wolffsohn, J. S. (2021). CLEAR - Contact lens complications. Contact lens & anterior eye : the journal of the British Contact Lens Association, 44(2), 330–367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clae.2021.02.010.
Rhee, M. K., Jacobs, D. S., Dhaliwal, D. K., Szczotka-Flynn, L., Prescott, C. R., Jhanji, V., Steinemann, T. L., Koffler, B. H., & Jeng, B. H. (2022). Contact Lens Safety for the Correction of Refractive Error in Healthy Eyes. Eye & contact lens, 48(11), 449–454. https://doi.org/10.1097/ICL.0000000000000938
Stapleton F. (2020). Contact lens-related corneal infection in Australia. Clinical & experimental optometry, 103(4), 408–417. https://doi.org/10.1111/cxo.13082