Doctors shocked to find 27 contact lenses in woman's eye
A woman believed the discomfort she had in her eye was due to old age but little did she know she had 27 contact lenses lodged in there.
The discovery was made by surgeons during an examinaton at Solihull Hospital in the UK and was revealed by specialist trainee ophthalmologist Rupal Morjaria.
The 67-year-old patient was due for a cataract operation when a "bluish mass" of 17 lenses were found in her eye.
A further 10 were found in a second inspection.
"None of us have ever seen this before,” Ms Morjaria told Optomertry Today.
“It was such a large mass. All the 17 contact lenses were stuck together.
"We were really surprised that the patient didn’t notice it because it would cause quite a lot of irritation while it was sitting there."
The woman told the surgeons she believed the pain was due to dry eye and old age.
The surgery was postponed due to a serious inflammation in the eye.
“Because she had harboured these contact lenses in her eye for an unknown length of time, if we had operated she would have had a lot of bacteria around her conjunctiva," Ms Morjaria said.
The patient had been wearing monthly disposable contact lenses for the past 35 years.
“She was quite shocked. When she was seen two weeks after I removed the lenses she said her eyes felt a lot more comfortable. She thought her previous discomfort was just part of old age and dry eye,” Ms Morjaria said.
The case, which occurred in November last year, has been reported in general medicine journal The BMJ.
It has just been made public because doctors didn't think it was possible to have so many lenses lost in the eye without being symptomatic.
“In this day and age, when it is so easy to purchase contact lenses online, people become lax about having regular check-ups,” Ms Morjaria said.
“Contact lenses are used all the time, but if they are not appropriately monitored we see people with serious eye infections that can cause them to lose their sight."
