According to my opthalmologist and emedicinehealth.com (and many other sites), "People who wear contact lenses are at an increased risk of corneal ulcers." Stop right there, you are thinking, what in the world is a corneal ulcer? A corneal ulcer is an open, sometimes infected, sore on your cornea (the clear part of your eye that covers the iris or colored part). Mine was diagnosed yesterday after enduring a night and morning of a very sore, red eye which especially hurt when exposed to light or when changing focus - so basically all the time:)
Before the opthalmologist even looked into my eye, he asked me if I wore contact lenses. When I told him that I wore the kind that allowed for 30 days and nights of continuous wear, he looked very concerned. "When those things came out on the market, I was yelling at the tv," he explained. "I have seen so many problems come directly from those lenses." "Well, I don't usually wear them that long," I protested. "I usually take them out at least one night a week." Then, he looked into my eye, and said, "That's it. That's what's causing your problems. A corneal ulcer."
Corneal ulcers are very serious. If left untreated, they can cause permanent vision damange or even blindness in only 24-48 hours. Yikes! I am a very lucky girl (also blessed) that although my ulcer was wildly infected, it is peripheral and will not affect my vision. There will, however, be a scar visible to someone who looks closely at my eye. The doctor prescribed agressive antibiotic treatment so I have 1 set of drops every 2 hours, another set 4x daily, and eye ointment that I apply before bed.
You can bet that I came home from the doctor and the pharmacy and looked around online. I'd hever heard of a corneal ulcer, but evidently, they are not uncommon with contact lens wearers.
I asked my opthalmologist why extended wear contacts are on the market if they are so dangerous and he said the average eye-care precriber doesn't see the the problems. (DUH! They aren't qualified to treat eye diseases, so why would someone with a problem go to them?!) He said, and websites concurred that, your risk of corneal ulcerations increases 10-fold when using extended-wear soft contact lenses.
If you wear contact lenses, or especially extended wear contact lenses, be very careful!
- Always wash your hands before handling the lenses. Never use saliva to lubricate your lenses because your mouth contains bacteria that can harm your cornea.
- Remove your lenses from your eyes every evening and carefully clean them. Never use tap water to clean the lenses.
- Never sleep with your contact lenses in your eyes.
- Store the lenses in disinfecting solutions overnight
- Remove your lenses whenever your eyes are irritated and leave them out until your eyes feel better.
- Regularly clean your contact lens case.
Here are symptoms to watch for - if you ever experience these, get your eyes checked out immediately!
- an ache in your eye
- feeling of something in your eye
- pain when looking at light
- lots of tears (lacrimation)
- swollen eye
- pus or discharge from your eye
- a white round spot on the cornea that is visible with the naked eye (that means the ulcer is very large)
