For anyone who needs them – wearing contact lenses quickly becomes part and parcel of your everyday routine.
And monthly disposable ones are particularly popular, mainly because they’re easy-to-use and cost-efficient.
However, one doctor is now urging contact lens-users to not get complacent about taking them out and replacing them.
The warning was issued by a surgeon who removed an eye-watering 27 contact lenses from one woman’s eyes – disposable ones she had forgotten about.
The discovery was made at Solihull Hospital in England by specialist trainee ophthalmologist Rupal Morjaria.
In conversation with Optometry Today, Ms Morjaria revealed: “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 patient had been wearing monthly disposable contact lenses for the past 35 years, but hadn’t been attending her regular eye appointments.
Ms Morjaria also told the science journal: “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.”
She went on to warn: “In this day and age, when it is so easy to purchase contact lenses online, people become lax about having regular check ups.
“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.”
