Ohio, US: 39-year-old Chad Groeschen of Ohio, US slept in his contact lenses and is now at the verge of partial blindness. Cincinnati news channel Local 12 WKRC reported that a month ago Groeschen noticed some itchiness in his eyes, however, he didn’t pay much heed. But the following day, Groeschen woke up with excruciating pain in his left eye and foggy, “opaque” vision.
Groeschen was severely infected with a bacteria called Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is associated with the use of “extended wear” lenses.
Even though these lenses are FDA-approved for overnight wear, but doctors say it multiplies the chances of infection.
A report in Health quotes Dr. Michelle Akler talking about the hazards of wearing contacts overnight. “There are contact lenses that are approved for overnight wear, and even though that is an approved use there are many studies that show that this is the main risk factor for these severe sight-threatening infections like the one this person developed,” she said.
“The organism that gentlemen had is known to cause severe corneal scarring within a couple of days,” Dr. Akler said, adding “but it’s not very common.”
She goes on to suggest, “I think the daily contacts are the safest and the most convenient for all of us with our busy lives,” she said. “We may not have time to appropriately care for the other types.”
And if you are not using a fresh pair of contacts every day, Akler advises avoiding wearing them while sleeping and use commercial sterile solution to clean and store lenses.
&uuid=(email))