I’ve had my eyeball removed after thinking something was stuck – don’t make my mistake
A GRANDMOTHER who lost an eye is calling for better warnings on contact lenses over risks of a horrific parasitic infection.
Marie Mason, 54, developed an infection in her left eye after a parasite found in tap water got between her contact lens and cornea.
Her vision deteriorated and, after several unsuccessful operations, she had to have the eye removed.
The grandmother-of-one believed the bug got into her eye through water and now wants the contact lens industry to do more to make others users aware of the danger.
Maire has been forced to make several huge changes to her life since her being left with just one eye.
"I just don't want anyone else to go through it really," she explained.
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Marie, from Sapcote, in Leicestershire said she first felt like something was stuck in her eye in 2015.
After her vision deteriorated, she went to the opticians who immediately rushed her to hospital.
Experts discovered she had acanthamoeba keratitis (AK) living inside of her eye, which was causing her the problems.
AK is an infection of the cornea - the clear outer layer of the eye.
The condition happens when the parasite acanthamoeba gets trapped between the cornea and the contact lens.
It eats into the cornea, causing severe pain and in a quarter of cases, blindness.
Marie wore 30 day contact lenses- which she also wore while she showered.
As the infection can be found in tap water, it is believed that's how her eye became infected.
The infection then multiplied, and over time it feasted on Marie's cornea and her vision began to deteriorate.
in March 2020 - after five years of trying numerous types of medication and a series of unsuccessful operations including three cornea transplants - her eye had to be removed.
She now wears a false replacement.
Marie said: "I had to stop work, because at the time I worked in a kitchen in a school, and I was having to put eye drops in every half an hour so it just wasn't going to work because it's so painful.
"I also had to go to the hospital two to three times a week, and sometimes even more," she explained.
What are the signs and symptoms of the eye infection?
An infection in your eye can show up in many different ways. A lot depends on which part of your eye has the problem. Symptoms can include:
- sensitivity to light and excessive tearing
- blurred vision with eye redness and pain
- sensations of having something in your eye
- severe headaches
"I was also in eye casualty a lot because something would flare up, so with all the times I had to go into hospital, I couldn't have gone to work because it wouldn't have been worth it anyway," she added.
She said: "There was just lots of hospital visits, lots of eye drops, lots of operations and procedures and lots of pain."
Marie is now calling for better warnings on contact lens packs over the risks of contamination.
She believed they should warn users to not wear lenses in the shower and touch them after washing their hands.
She said: "I don't want anything to think that I'm asking people to not wear contact lenses because I'm not asking that at all.
"Wear contact lenses, that's absolutely fine, but you've just got to be careful - it's the water thing more than anything.
"I would just like the manufactures to put more warnings on the packaging about water and contact lenses," she added.
Almost two years after having her eye removed, Marie's life is almost back to normal although she's had to adapt.
Instead of going back to her old job, she now works for her husband Jonathan, 50 as an admin assistant.
She also volunteers with her church.
"My life has changed, but it's a nice change, and it's different," she explained.
She has also had to stop driving.
"I wasn't comfortable with it, and I haven't got the confidence to go back to it, so that's the main thing that's changed for me," she said.
"I do struggle sometimes because my vision on my left side is rubbish, well it's not there.
"It's quite hard walking down the street when you've got people whizzing by you, and it makes you jump a bit because you don't expect it," she explained.
Only last month, British researchers suggested people should avoid wearing their lenses while swimming or in the shower.
The , which was published in Ophthalmology found that reusing lenses, wearing them overnight or in the shower increased a person's risk of Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK).
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Researchers from University College London and Moorfields Eye Hospital estimate that 30-62 per cent of UK cases of the condition could be prevented if people switched from reusable to daily lenses.