Surgeons remove 27 contact lenses from woman's eye

[Northerner]

Surgeons have removed 27 contact lenses from the eye of a 67-year-old woman who had come to Solihull Hospital for routine cataract surgery.

"A bluish foreign body" turned out to be a "hard mass" of 17 lenses stuck together with mucus, and 10 more were then found under further examination.

A report in the BMJ said she had worn disposable lenses for 35 years, and had not complained of any irritation.

But after they were removed, she said her eyes felt a lot more comfortable.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-40630852

😱

 

[mikeyB]

It makes you wonder how such people remember to breathe.

 

[Amigo]

Good gracious! Hard to know how a massive infection didn't develop.

Was she still wearing her wedding dress under her day clothes? 🙄

 

[Flower]

Good grief! I manage occasionally to have 2 lenses in my eye at the same time when I forget to remove my lens at night and due to poor sight I sometimes don't realise I've put a new lens in on top of the old one. It feels like a brick in my eye so I soon work it out but 27!! maybe she doesn't need cataract surgery with all that lot removed.

 

[Matt Cycle]

I only wear them occasionally (on the bike) and have never managed to do this.

You think a quick look in the mirror would have given her a clue.

 

[Amigo]

What baffles me is she must have been referred there for cataract surgery after being assessed after examination as having a cataract. What eye doctor missed the 27 lenses stuck in her eye!

 

[Northerner]

What baffles me is she must have been referred there for cataract surgery after being assessed after examination as having a cataract. What eye doctor missed the 27 lenses stuck in her eye!

Absolutely! 😱

 

[Pine Marten]

Eurgh, ewww, yuck yuck yuck 😱 ! I used to get the 'have you ever thought of contact lenses..?' at the opticians, to which I always replied 'NO!' very firmly. I can't bear the thought of things near my eyes, the drops are bad enough at the retinal screening, and the air puffer thing when they test the pressure. That story is revolting, and the woman (and her doctor) mad as a box of frogs 😱😱😱

 

[Copepod]

Just to put forward an alternative view of contact lenses. I've never worn soft CLs of any type, daily disposable or longer wear. I have worn hard CLs since I was about 13 years old, and changed to hard gas permeable CLs aged about 20 years. A pair usually lasts me about 2 years. I've never had an infection, even on expeditions when hand washing was difficult 2 x 6 wks in Greenland, 6 wks in Svalbard, 6 wks in Canada, 2 months in Indonesia, 6 wks in Queensland, 4 months and 1 month in Costa Rica, 4.5 months in Chile, Falklands and South Georgia, plus many independent travels.

 

[Amigo]

I've had to give up soft, daily contact lenses now due to an autoimmune condition which affects my eyes and makes them unbearably dry. I really hate having to wear glasses all the time but would certainly have known if I even had 2 contacts in one eye at the same time. I only once fell asleep in them and my eyes were very sore so I'm not sure how this woman got away with this.