Woman Gets Painful Infection From Something You May Do Every Day
A woman in the UK says she experienced excruciating pain and partial blindness from a bacterial infection doctors think may be from a dirty makeup bag. The 24-year-old awoke one morning with pain in her right eye while traveling in Australia. She knew something wasn’t right when she couldn’t open her eye. Laura Hawkins wears contact lenses, but never experienced a problem this serious. She eventually sought medical treatment at the emergency room. Doctors told her the infection caused a large ulcer on her cornea that may require a corneal transplant. Medical experts think it’s possible that her contact lenses came into contact with bacteria in her makeup bag.
Laura kept her contact lenses case inside the bag. That is something a lot of lens wearers, including myself, probably do many times. Doctors say she may have scratched her cornea taking the lenses out, or they became contaminated. Hawkins has scarring on her eye and partial blindness even after more than a year. She says it feels like a white sheet over her eye. As a result she may seek a transplant. It’s a good reminder for us contact lens wearers to be extra careful!
