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Eyeball Eating Parasite


She-ra

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For the squeamish, the images in this article are not extreme.

The 19-year-old contact lens wearer, Jessica Greaney, thought she only had a minor eye infection: her eye was sore and her eyelid kept drooping. "But, by the end of the week, my eye was bulging, and it looked like a huge red golf ball," Greaney said. "It was swollen, and extremely painful, and they admitted me into hospital."

Little did she know that there was a parasite, Acanthamoeba, living inside her eyeball. Left untreated, this parasite can cause blindness. To diagnose the problem, doctors had to scrape away a small sample of her eye tissue with a scalpel.

Read more here...if you dare... http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/contact-lens-parasite-ate-my-eyeball

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Gee, there is a parasite for every part of your body. If its not eating at your brain or flesh its your eyeballs.

Happy she recovered.

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So four days without sleep was exhausting? Thank you Captain Obvious! Glad she is on the mend.

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As a contact wearer this gives me the creeps.. I always wash my hands though, so I don't need to worry. :P

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4 days with not much sleep, it would have been more dangerous to keep her awake for 4 days solid, note the treatment, from the reports I have read, here is just one...all say it has to be done every hour, not 10 minutes....but this is the daily mail.

Still, luckily it has been treated, maybe she would be better off wearing glasses in the future.

Usually you’ll need to take these eye drops every hour for the first few days (including overnight), reducing to 2-hourly by day only, and then less frequently as the treatment progresses. It can be quite difficult to take eye drops through the night during the first few days, but it’s very important to try and stick to the regime outlined by the doctor as best you can.

http://www.moorfields.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/uploads/documents/Acanthamoeba%20keratitis%20Patient%20Leaflet_0.pdf

Around 85% of cases of AK have been associated with contact lens wear. There are a number of different factors which are known to increase the risk of contracting AK. The biggest risk factor is exposure to water (generally through swimming or showering in contact lenses, rinsing or storing lenses in water and handling lenses with unwashed or wet hands). Poor contact lens hygiene, including failure to disinfect lenses properly and to clean and dispose of contact lens cases regularly have also been shown to increase the risk of infection.

http://www.moorfields.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/uploads/documents/Acanthamoeba%20keratitis%20Patient%20Leaflet_0.pdf

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I'm so glad i went with glasses instead of contacts.

Me too. I just couldn't abide by poking my fingers in my eye everyday.

It friggin' hurt! Oh, poke yourself in the eye to put them in and poke yourself in the eye to take them out.

Me: "I'll just keep wearing glasses, as eye protection so nothing pokes me in the friggin' eye again!"

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Also, elease, please, PLEEEEEEEASE store your contacts in a sterile, disinfecting solution!!! Storing them in regular tap water can allow infections like this very one to happen. She is very lucky she didn't go blind. I have personally seen a college basketball player loose sight in both eyes because of an infection he developed from storing his contacts in tap water.

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"...rinsing or storing lenses in water and handling lenses with unwashed or wet hands). Poor contact lens hygiene, including failure to disinfect lenses properly and to clean and dispose of contact lens cases regularly have also been shown to increase the risk of infection."

It is impossible to overstate how truthful the above statement is!

Please, DO NOT STORE YOUR CONTACTS IN TAP WATER!!! That is how infections like the one in this story can occur those infections can blind you!

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I'm surprised a person I worked with for almost 30 years didn't get that, I've seen her lose a contact in the car, put in her mouth then in her eye. She also kept hard contacts in her eyes for days without taking them out. She did swim in both hard & soft. Wore both hard & soft daily wear for a week or three at a time. When she got extended wear (1 week) she wore for a month. Instead of throwing them away she did an enzyme treatment & put them back in. Many many times when she did finally take them out it was without washing her hands. I wore contacts for about 20 of those 30 years and was super careful-yet I was the one with pinkeye, scratched corneas, and eye infections. I did everything by the book-no swimming, no showers (til I got biweekly extended), washed face and hands before handling, always had lubricating drops, uv sunglasses, threw away when I should, never over wore, etc. and though I haven't talked to her in a few years-i see her around town - still without glasses - so I KNOW she's still wearing contacts-go figure. My cousin also has nasty habits like her-putting them in mouth & she to has never had problems with her eyes- I just drive by any school & get pinkeye or conjunctivitis-I stopped wearing contacts when I could no longer read with them in, and eyes have the same scratched corneas & infections as without contacts-but I don't get as sick or as often as those two do.....

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I'm surprised a person I worked with for almost 30 years didn't get that, I've seen her lose a contact in the car, put in her mouth then in her eye. She also kept hard contacts in her eyes for days without taking them out. She did swim in both hard & soft. Wore both hard & soft daily wear for a week or three at a time. When she got extended wear (1 week) she wore for a month. Instead of throwing them away she did an enzyme treatment & put them back in. Many many times when she did finally take them out it was without washing her hands. I wore contacts for about 20 of those 30 years and was super careful-yet I was the one with pinkeye, scratched corneas, and eye infections. I did everything by the book-no swimming, no showers (til I got biweekly extended), washed face and hands before handling, always had lubricating drops, uv sunglasses, threw away when I should, never over wore, etc. and though I haven't talked to her in a few years-i see her around town - still without glasses - so I KNOW she's still wearing contacts-go figure. My cousin also has nasty habits like her-putting them in mouth & she to has never had problems with her eyes- I just drive by any school & get pinkeye or conjunctivitis-I stopped wearing contacts when I could no longer read with them in, and eyes have the same scratched corneas & infections as without contacts-but I don't get as sick or as often as those two do.....

How does one do that?? I've had contacts for 30 yrs and am always careful to wash my hands, clean and store them correctly. The only times I've gotten an eye infection were due to allergies that raged out of control.

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I never could stick something in my eye. Glasses are fine, they make me look smart. :geek:

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It's a good thing she didn't go blind. I'll bet she treats her contact lenses better now.

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Ew. That's nasty. Dx No thanks.

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