Taiwan student Lian Kao was left blinded after leaving a pair of disposable contact lenses in for six months.
A microscopic bug by the name of single-cell amoeba ate away at the 23-year-old’s eyesight because she didn’t change the contacts during that time.
In addition to being regularly cleaned, contact lenses should be removed when swimming or washing and experts advise that contact lens users should try to avoid wearing them for more than eight hours at a time.
When Lian Kao went to hospital, doctors removed the lenses to find that the single cell amoeba had been able to breed between the contact lenses and the eye.
The director of ophthalmology at Taipei’s Wan Fang Hospital, Wu Jian-liang, commented on Lian Kao’s case : “Contact lens wearers are a high-risk group that can easily be exposed to eye diseases.
“A shortage of oxygen can destroy the surface of the epithelial tissue, creating tiny wounds into which the bacteria can easily infect, spreading to the rest of the eye and providing a perfect breeding ground.
“The girl should have thrown the contact lenses away after a month but instead she overused them and has now permanently damaged her corneas”.
