My Eye Update & A Warning to Soft Contact Lens Wearers

[lauralaylin]

If you buy new frames, you could always get new lenses put into them as your perscription changes. Any decent optical shop could order the lenses and would only need your frames for an hour or two when you need to change them.

As for cheap frames, I find that independent places are cheaper. You might want to ask around to make sure the place is ok though, there was one that competed with the one I worked for that only sold discontinued frames. You could always ask if the frames were discontinued or not. That is important in case you break a temple and need to order a part. I know Lenscrafters doesn't do that, they'll order you the entire frame when you only need a $30 part. They also marked up 2 times what the place I worked for did.

[Peaches-n-Cream]

Back by popular demand. From the prestige thread:

Originally posted by HotDamnImAPhiMu
Peaches, that's AWFUL. How did you figure out what was going on? Poor vision?

Is this something that's usually in pools, and just got out of control, or is the parasite usually killed by the stuff they put in there, or what?

Eesh.

My eyes were initially itchy and red like an allergy attack. When they became painful, I went to the eye doctor and was diagnosed with and treated for conjunctivitis (pink eye) for a few days. When my vision started to change and my symptoms worsened, my doctor suggested that I go to the eye hospital and see a specialist. I was misdiagnosed again this time with HSV keratitis. (That's a common mistake.) When the three weeks of treatment didn't work and my symptoms and vision were still worsening, another cornea specialist realized that I probably had acanthamoeba keratitis.

The diagnosis was a pretty hideous experience involving various tests including taking cornea cultures and blood work. I remember over a dozen doctors examined me and even more were consulted over the phone. I was at the eye hospital for about 8 hours. I'm actually lucky that I was diagnosed as early as I was. Some people go for months without a diagnosis and wind up losing their vision and needing cornea transplants.

Acanthamoeba is found in soil and all sorts of fresh water: tap, pool, lake, etc. Chlorine doesn't kill it, but PHMB does. Most pools don't use PHMB because it's more expensive than chlorine and acanthamoeba is extremely rare. I would go swimming early in the day and wear my lenses for the next 8 to 12 hours. Unfortunately, it can grow on the cornea under the soft contact lenses which is what happened to me. I had been swimming and taking SCUBA diving lessons for two or three months before I started having problems. I think about 90% of people who have acanthamoeba keratitis wear soft contact lenses so contact lens care is a major factor.

According to the eye doctors and cornea specialists, in order to avoid this, don't wear contact lenses while swimming, showering, or sleeping. Wait a few hours after swimming before you wear your lenses. When you take them out, put them in a one step cleaning product like Renu for at least 6 hours to thoroughly disinfect them. Change your contact case monthly. Never store lenses in tap water or homemade saline solution.

As far as my case goes, I am still undergoing treatment. I see a cornea specialist every month. I use two drops specially compounded for me and one drop and an ointment that I can buy at a normal pharmacy. I bought cute new glasses, but my vision has changed so much that I will probably need new prescription lenses when this is all over. If the parasite didn't damage my corneas, the eye drops probably did. I won't know the full extent of the damage until June at the earliest. My vision is still blurry, but it has improved so much since the summer. It doesn't look foggy so I'm grateful.

[Peaches-n-Cream]

GMA had a story about a rare fungal infection that attacks the corneas of soft contact lens wearers. The symptoms are similar to acanthamoeba so I figured I would post it here.

Here is a link to the article.

Here is a link to the video.

[valkyrie]

How are your eyes doing now? Better, I hope.

[Peaches-n-Cream]

Originally posted by valkyrie
How are your eyes doing now? Better, I hope.

Thanks for asking. Here is the long answer. I am doing so much better now. The pain is gone thank goodness. I am still sensitive to light, but I don't feel like lightning is striking me. My vision has improved since I started using a steroid eye drop five weeks ago, but everything looks different: a little blurry and not quite in focus. The doctors told me that my vision will never be the same, but they are trying to get my eyes to a place where my vision isn't a problem. In other words, I am grateful that I can see and read without a cornea transplant. I might need reading glasses or a stronger prescription which is fine with me.

So far I have had almost 10 months of treatments, and it might take another year until my corneas settle down. These drops have really taken their toll on my corneas. I have an appointment with the cornea specialist next Tuesday so we'll see what I can report. Hopefully, I will be finished with two of my four eye drops. I now use a total of 7 drops in each eye daily. This is a big improvement over the 56 drops I had to use daily during the first week.

I bought cute glasses in November. I look like a completely different person wearing glasses than I did in contacts. It took a while, but I have lost my self-consciousness and vanity about wearing glasses. The optometrist will change my lenses in my glasses if I need a new prescription.

[GreekLetterGirl]

Glad to hear you're doing better. As a soft contact wearer myself, thank you for posting your story. Here's to you getting some good news in your next visit.

[valkyrie]

That's great! There are some super-hot eyeglass frames out lately, which is a very good thing.

hey peaches!

i'm glad to hear you are doing well! about a month ago, i had some eye problems. i took bits and pieces of this thread to my eye doctor because i thought for sure this was what was wrong with me! well it turns out that my contacts scratched my eye and the scratch got infected. after two weeks of drops i got better.

now i'm wearing glasses. i'm very much afraid of contacts. my eyes were so sensitive, the light from my phone made me cry! i'm sure i'll give in soon, i don't like glasses all that much.

good luck!

[Honeykiss1974]

Lens solution linked to fungus outbreak

Manufacturer suspends shipments of ReNu, generic solution

Tuesday, April 11, 2006; Posted: 8:36 a.m. EDT (12:36 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Bausch & Lomb voluntarily suspended shipment of a contact lens solution after federal health officials linked it Monday to a fungal eye infection that can cause temporary blindness.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating 109 reports of Fusarium keratitis infection in patients in 17 states since June 2005.

Federal and state health officials have interviewed just 30 of those patients. However, of the 28 who wore soft contact lens, however, 26 reported using Bausch & Lomb's ReNu brand contact lens solution or a generic type of solution also made by the Rochester, New York, company.

Read The Rest here

[Peaches-n-Cream]

Originally posted by Honeykiss1974
Lens solution linked to fungus outbreak

Manufacturer suspends shipments of ReNu, generic solution

Tuesday, April 11, 2006; Posted: 8:36 a.m. EDT (12:36 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Bausch & Lomb voluntarily suspended shipment of a contact lens solution after federal health officials linked it Monday to a fungal eye infection that can cause temporary blindness.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating 109 reports of Fusarium keratitis infection in patients in 17 states since June 2005.

Federal and state health officials have interviewed just 30 of those patients. However, of the 28 who wore soft contact lens, however, 26 reported using Bausch & Lomb's ReNu brand contact lens solution or a generic type of solution also made by the Rochester, New York, company.

Read The Rest here

Thanks for posting this. This is scary. I used Renu. I wonder if I had this instead of acanthamoeba keratitis. I didn't have a fungus according to the cornea culture, but they weren't looking for this specific fungus. I wish I had read this before my appointment. I think I will call the doctor. I suspect at this point after ten months of treatment, it really doesn't matter.

I saw the cornea specialist earlier today, and I am almost finished with my treatments. Yeah! I need to use three eye drops once daily and another drop twice daily. I return to the doctor in two weeks. I still have some cornea scars and haziness, but my vision is much better than it was six weeks ago.

[AGDee]

I was just coming here to post about the Renu thing. I've been using Renu, but thankfully have had no problems. I'm done with solution now!

[Virtuous Woman]

I used ReNu too. I just stopped using it when these reports started coming out. It's so scary. I'm seriously considering glasses until I can get LASIK.

[Honeykiss1974]

I'm glad to hear that you're slowly but surely making progress P-n-C.

[Buttonz]

I have a feeling I'm using Renu also (don't wearthem all the time so I don't remember off hand)

[Dionysus]

I use Renu also.

Well, I'm glad that you are getting better PnC.