Woman blind for days after terrible infection caused by common contact lens mistake

In May 2019, Emily Kelleher, a high school English teacher in Massachusetts, woke up in severe pain.

Her left eye felt like it had been stabbed with a ‘knife or ice pick’ and was blood red. She put on her glasses but still could not see out of the affected eye.

She went to the doctor, who noticed white, cloudy spots all over her eye. They eventually diagnosed Mrs. Kelleher with a rare parasitic infection called acanthamoeba inflammation of the cornea.

Her doctors told her she likely got it when the parasites got into her eye while she was showering with contact lenses in, something she previously did every day.

“Tell your friends. Learn from me, because I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy,” Mrs. Kelleher said.

About 45 million people in the United States wear contact lenses.

Although they may look like everyday accessories, The CDC notes that Contact lenses are medical devices and improper use can lead to infections, scarring and blindness.

In rare cases, such as in Mrs. Kelleher’s, they can cause painful parasitic infections.

These creatures live in water and can enter the eye through microscopic tears in the cornea. They burrow into this clear outer layer of her eyeball and reproduce, multiply and eat the healthy tissue there.

It is estimated that 1,500 Americans get it each year. The Cleveland Clinic. About 90 percent of cases occur in people who wear contact lenses.

That’s why ophthalmologists advise against showering, swimming, or getting into a hot tub with your lenses in.

Mrs Kelleher said there were hundreds of microscopic parasites in her eye.

She had to have her eye scraped with a scalpel to remove as many parasites as possible, and she was blind for three days.

For the next three months, she had to use special eye drops every hour, day and night.

Some people lose their eye or vision completely. But after about a year, Mrs. Kelleher is completely cured, although she now wears only glasses.

What is more common than acanthamoeba Keratitis is a problem that occurs due to the use of non-sterile contact lenses or by buying contact lenses online that do not fit.

Azula Cinta, a lifestyle creator from Singapore, purchased contacts through a TikTok store in May 2024.

In a video that has been viewed more than 16 million times, Ms. Cinta said she has been wearing contact lenses for 11 years and has never had any problems with her prescription lenses.

Despite wearing these new contact lenses for less than eight hours, Ms. Cinta noticed that her eyes became extremely red, swollen and painful. She went to an optometrist for an examination.

There her doctor told her that she had developed an infection from the contact lenses and sent her home with antibiotic eye drops.

“Please do not purchase contact lenses from the TikTok store,” she said.

If you buy contact lenses from an online seller without consulting a doctor, you run the risk of buying contact lenses that are not a good fit for your eyes, said Dr. Rupda Wong, spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology, told ELLE.

“If you wear contact lenses that don’t fit properly on the surface of the eye, it can cause a lot of complications,” Dr. Wong said.

Wearing contact lenses that don’t fit properly can block the oxygen and moisture your eyes need to stay healthy. It can also irritate your eyes and cause tiny tears to form on the surface of your eye.

If the lens is too tight, the eye can swell, causing painful and blurred vision.

“At best, the lens may feel a little uncomfortable. It may cause dryness or irritation on the front of the eye,” says Dr. Brieann Adair, an optometrist at NYU Langone Eye Center.

Sometimes a lens that is too small can cause irritation and lead to bacterial infections. These can cause scarring, which can impair vision.

Ms. Cinta indicated that because of this experience she will probably never buy contact lenses online again.

‘From now on I will only buy lenses from certified opticians to prevent this from ever happening again. I hope you will take my advice to heart.’ she said.