Main image via LADBible + Medical Device Network
Contact lens users will know that sometimes, getting the lenses on and off, is not an easy thing.
Sometimes, the lens can get stuck, sometimes it falls and goes missing, sometimes, it can even go missing while you’re wearing it!
One woman lost 27 contact lenses, and it took a surgeon to find them, and she found them stuck behind her eye!
via GIPHY
Specialist trainee ophthalmologist Rupal Morjaria, discovered a “blueish mass” of 17 lenses, stuck behind a 67-year-old patient’s eye when the patient went in for a consultation ahead of her cataract surgery.
The woman was reportedly unaware that she had lost the lenses and thought that the discomfort and dryness she felt in her eye was just because she was getting old.
The 67-year-old woman had reportedly been wearing monthly disposables for the past 35 years, but never got her eyes checked regularly.
Upon closer inspection at Solihull Hospital, UK, the specialist trainee discovered another 10 lenses in the woman’s eye.
Image via LADBible
“None of us have ever seen this before,” Rupal told Optometry 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,” she said.
Due to the unusual discovery, the woman’s cataract surgery was delayed due to concerns over a potential infection.
“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,” Rupal added.
Image via LADBible
According to the surgeon, the patient did not mention anything regarding missing lenses during her pre-op assessment, despite her discomfort.
The woman was apparently “quite shocked” when she was informed about the bizarre discovery.
“When she was seen two weeks after I removed the lenses she said her eyes felt a lot more comfortable,” Rupal shared.
“She thought her previous discomfort was just part of old age and dry eye.”
via GIPHY
The patient’s unusual case was made public and reported in The British Medical Journal to help educate people to become more aware of the importance of attending regular check ups.
“In this day and age, when it is so easy to purchase contact lenses online, people become lax about having regular check ups,” Rupal noted.
“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,” she said.
According to Association of Optometrists clinical and regulatory officer Henry Leonard, cases like this are “extremely rare”.
“Patients do sometimes present with a contact lens stuck under their upper eyelid, particularly if they are new to contact lens wear, or have problems with dexterity, but finding this many lenses stuck in someone’s eye is exceedingly rare”, he said.
via GIPHY
Even if you’re not a contact lens user, this is definitely a lesson in regularly getting a check up!
If you feel a discomfort in your eye or anywhere in your body, don’t hesitate to get it checked out. You could making the situation worse like this woman if you don’t.
Have you ever lost a contact lens before? Were you able to find it? Let us know!
Info via LADBible