Woman’s Contact Lens Care Leads to Parasitic Eye Infection
Traci Lawson was diagnosed with pinkeye, but two weeks later, her left eye changed all at once, getting worse. LISTEN UP: Add the new Michigan Medicine NewsBreak for your Alexa-enabled device, or join our each-day updates on iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher. “My eye became milky looking and had gotten so swollen it become protruding from my face,” says Lawson of Lansing, Mich., who describes the attention pain as though she became being “jabbed with a warm poker.” She turned into also sensitive to light. Finally, after going to 6 docs, she changed to the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center, wherein she was diagnosed with Acanthamoeba keratitis, a parasite.
“People who wear touch lenses are at expanded risk for having contamination with Acanthamoeba, but it’s normally with sure danger factors,” says Kellogg cornea expert Shahzad Mian, M.D., professor of ophthalmology at Michigan Medicine. Acanthamoeba eye infections in contact lens wearers are severe but rare, and those infections regularly begin due to mistaken lens dealing and terrible hygiene.
Poor touch lens behavior, including washing lenses in faucet water or showering while wearing contact lenses, can increase the hazard. If not dealt with directly, Acanthamoeba keratitis can motivate permanent vision loss. In Lawson’s case, she might need a cornea transplant to restore her misplaced imagination and prescient. It’s the notion that Lawson, 50, stuck the worm while rinsing her touch lens case in faucet water or while swimming in her touch lenses on vacation in northern Michigan. SEE ALSO: Watch Out for These Summer Eye Dangers. Water can harbor bacteria and parasites; phone lenses can act like sponges and hold water. It makes contact and swimming a dangerous combination. The occurrence of infection will increase in the summer season months, probably because water sports activities and swimming and boating are more commonplace then. Mian says that Acanthamoeba organisms are all around us, generally found in soil, dust, faucet water, swimming pools, and warm tubs.
However, Acanthamoeba keratitis is regularly tough for an eye-fixed health practitioner to diagnose because the symptoms are like pinkeye or viral contamination early on. As it progresses and the parasite stays within the cornea, ring-like ulceration of the corneal tissue may also appear. Diagnosis of keratitis frequently occurs as soon as it’s determined that the situation is proof against antibiotics used to manage different infections. Imaging exams and culturing the cornea can also pinpoint the purpose. “The problem sincerely is diagnosing it quickly and early on so that the right remedy can be started,” Mian says.
