A medical case in Great Britain about a woman who had 27 contact lenses stuck in her eye is causing a lot of people to ask simply — “How could this happen?”
A medical team preparing the 67-year-old patient for cataract surgery discovered 17 contact lenses stuck together and another 10 individual lenses in the same eye. The report from the British Medical Journal says the woman thought age and dry eye were causing her discomfort.
We talked to Dr. Bridgitte Shen Lee who showed us just how thick a mass is created by stacking 17 lenses. She says she didn’t quite believe it herself, and that patients were calling to ask her about the story. After reading the journal article, Dr. Shen Lee says the patient having deep set eyes may have contributed to the situation.
“It’s difficult for us to imagine,” said Shen Lee. “Her eyeball shape, her curvature may have something to do with it.”
She says this is unlikely to happen in the U.S. because annual exams are required for contact lens prescriptions, and the most she’s ever seen is three contacts in a person’s eye. Dr. Shen Lee advises if a contact doesn’t resurface from behind your eye lid, you should see a doctor in order to avoid infection.
