Actress and reality star Tori Spelling wears an eye patch as she recovers from an eye ulcer that nearly blinded her after a week of sleeping with her lenses in.
Ms Spelling used a daily contact lens but said she rarely took it off. She said on her podcast “90210MG” that she would leave them in for up to 20 days at a time.
But this month a split appeared above part of her left eye that she described as “huge” and said “hurts so bad.”
She is now undergoing treatment and has her affected eye covered with a patch while it heals – expected to take about a week. It is not believed that she will sustain any long-term damage to her eyesight. Her doctors said she was “lucky she got away with it.”
Experts warn that eye ulcers can cause permanent vision loss if not treated quickly. A recent case of a 21-year-old from Florida who became partially blind in one of his eyes after sleeping with his daily contact lenses made headlines recently.
Tori Spelling, 49, (left) said she had an eye ulcer. She appeared in Beverly Hills wearing an eye patch. She used daily lenses, but admitted to sleeping in them for 20 days straight
Ms Spelling, a mother of five, shared photos of herself wearing the eyepatch online. She will have to wear it for a week to help her eye recover
‘It is my mistake. I did this to myself,” she told Jennie Garth, her co-host and fellow star of the 90s hit show.
“I have contact lenses, but I wear children daily and at the end of the day… whatever… I can make all the excuses I want… I don’t take them out. I sleep in it and it’s not healthy. You’re not supposed to sleep in it.’
When asked how long she’d leave them in, she said, “Oh gosh, I’ve been known to go for maybe 20 days.” I know, I know, it’s embarrassing.’
She added, “Yeah, I got lucky this time. I’m not going to take it for granted.”
Her greatest fear of losing her sight is that she will no longer be able to perform her duties as a mother.
“Forget work, but for mom with one eye, not okay,” Mrs. Spelling continued.
“Because mothers literally need to hear and see everything happening at once and I can’t do that. A child literally has to show me around. I have a designated seeing eye child. No, I can’t drive.’
The former 90210 star has five children ranging from five to fifteen years old.
Ms Spelling said the incident has not deterred her from wearing contact lenses but will now switch to using 30-day disposable lenses.
This is a type of contact lens that can be worn safely for a month, instead of daily lenses that need to be removed every night.
But these lenses can get dirty more easily than the shorter-term products and have a higher risk of infection.
She has not disclosed what brand of contact lenses she uses.
Doctors regularly warn people not to wear daily contact lenses at night, saying they expose the eye to potentially sight-threatening infections.
The lenses can tear inside the eye or scratch the eyeball, increasing the risk of infection.
It can also irritate the surface of the eye or trap bacteria, viruses, or fungi against the surface of the eye, which can lead to the development of an infection and eye pain.
An eye ulcer is an open sore on the surface of the eye that can be caused by an infection or an injury.
It also includes corneal ulcers, an ulcer that develops on the cornea, the clear dome-shaped surface that covers the front of the eye. Doctors at Cleveland clinic say that these can rob people of their sight.
She said the ulcer was “huge” at the time and “hurt so bad.” It is not believed that this will cause her to lose face in the long run
Doctors treat them with eye drops that contain antibiotics, antifungals, and antivirals, depending on what’s causing the infection.
Some patients may also wear an eye patch, which can help speed up the healing process by reducing blinking and irritation of the injured surface.
To prevent eye ulcers, doctors say it’s important to follow proper cleaning or disinfection procedures to replace lenses as advised.
About 30,000 to 75,000 eye ulcers are diagnosed in the United States each year, with estimates suggesting that up to 40 percent may be linked to contact lenses.