Contact Lense Warning

A man went blind in one eye after sleeping while wearing contact lenses.

16:36 24 August 2015

39-year-old Chad Groeschen, a sculptor from Cincinnati was left with a blind left after sleeping wearing his contact lenses. He said that something was terribly wrong when he awoke one morning suffering from severe pain.

 

He was told by a specialist doctor that his left eye was severely infected with Pseudomonas bacteria because he was sleeping in extended-wear contacts. Groeschen said that he took out the lens once a week. “The kind of contacts I have are called ”Night and Day“ contacts, and it was my impression you could leave them in for 30 days straight. I figured the less I was messing with my eyes, the better.”

 

He now requires a cornea transplant to regain the vision in his eye.

 

The news came after the release of a study conducted by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. It states that the majority of the 41 million estimated contact lens wearers do at least one thing that puts their vision at risk. The study, which was participated by 1,000 contact wearers, showed that 82.3per cent of people kept their contact lenses in for longer than recommended, while over half topped off rather than emptied their solution. Meanwhile, 50per cent of the participants admitted to wearing lenses while sleeping.

 

“Good vision contributes to overall well-being and independence for people of all ages, so it’s important not to cut corners on healthy contact lens wear and care,” says CDC Medical Epidemiologist Jennifer Cope, M.D., M.P.H.

 

“We are finding that many wearers are unclear about how to properly wear and care for contact lenses,” she said.