My Eye Update & A Warning to Soft Contact Lens Wearers
 

About a month ago, I started to experience some eye and vision problems. I have been undergoing a few different courses of treatment which did not improve my eye problems. On Tuesday a corneal specialist was called in for a consultation and decided to take some eye cultures, both swabs and scrapings. After a few hours of phone calls to different eye hospitals and doctors, I was diagnosed with an extremely rare eye condition called acanthamoeba. Fortunately for me, it is still treatable. There is a chance that I might have some vision loss, but the prognosis is cautiously optimistic.

I need to use five different eye drops and take pills for the next month or so. I began this treatment on Tuesday after trying to locate all the medicine that I need. One of the drops was sent to me via Fed Ex yesterday since we could find only one pharmacy in the US that makes it. I used over 50 drops yesterday in a "shotgun" approach to remove this parasite from my eyes. I use one drop on the hour, the second at :15 later, and a third at :30 all day long plus two different drops in the morning. I see various eye doctors daily since this condition and treatment need to be carefully monitored.

I learned that this condition is found primarily in soft contact lens wearers. I have been wearing them since I was a teenager and never heard of it. Many patients suffered from it about 15 or 20 years ago when hot tubs became popular. People can get it by wearing their soft contacts while swimming, using a hot tub, bathing, or showering as well as using tap water instead of solution and rinsing the contact cases with tap water. It's very rare, but it can happen. I just want to warn all of the people who wear soft contact lenses not to do any of these things. I don't want anyone to experience what I am because this is extremely painful and potentially vision threatening.

Thanks for the warning. I hope things get better for you.

peaches, i am so sorry to learn of your eye problem. it must be just awful for you. i hope that you will have a full recovery!! thank you for telling us all about this. both my teenagers wear contacts, so i will be sure and have them read your post , hope that this is over for you real soon. lisa

I keep my soft contacts in when I'm in the water...did you open your eyes underwater, or did it just happen that the water was able to get in?

P-n-C, I hope that you get a full recovery.

Woah, thanks for warning us, I've never heard of anything like this. I hope you get well soon. :)

Thanks everyone. I'm doing my best to be a good patient and follow doctors' orders. It's weird. I'm not sure how I got it. Apparently, I was doing many things wrong. I change my solution in my case each time I wear them, but I also rinsed the case with tap water. Sometime I showered with them in.

I started to take SCUBA lessons and was swimming regularly a few months ago, but I didn't wear my lenses while diving or swimming only because I was afraid I would lose them in the water. I wore goggles or a face mask, but I'm sure I got water in my eyes. I would get out of the pool and pop in my lenses immediately because I have really bad vision without correction. I probably still had water in my eyes when I did that. This parasite gets in the eye and is trapped behind the contact lens and begins to grow.

i'm having eye problems too...but he thinks its just cornea erosion...which is bad, but not terrible. it's either that or an ulcer...i go back tomorrrow

Wow -- how shocking! I shower in my contacts daily. I guess I'll just stop showering. :)

What were your initial symptoms?

Did you have the disposables or regular soft contacts? I hope you have a swift & complete recovery!!

I actually rinsed my contacts with distilled water when I first had them...then boiled them in the little boiling unit....I can't believe it now. This was before I drank too, LOL.

Yup, when I first started wearing contacts (in '91, I believe), I had to wash them w/ this soap stuff, rinse them w/ saline, then stick them in the unit that would heat them up for an hour or so. It was such a pain.

I am glad things are going better for you! Hope to see you soon ;).

Thanks for the warning. Hope you have a speedy recovery...

I use my contacts when I'm in water...pools and showering. The reason being that I have really poor vision and I wouldn't be able to see a thing if I didn't wear them. Wearing glasses in the shower really isn't an option. :) I wash my contact lense case out with warm water and soap.
Did your doctor tell you what to do in these circumstances (blind if you don't wear corrective lenses in the shower, how to clean the case, etc.)? I'm curious because I am slightly more worried after hearing your story!
And I'm so glad that they were able to catch it. I hope that you have no remaining problems from this and it can all be put behind you.

I hope you are getting better each day.:)