Doctors Find a Nightmarish Amount of Contacts Lodged in Woman’s Eye

Though the discovery occurred this past November, a report documenting the incident was released this month.

A woman demonstrates putting a contact lense in.
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A woman demonstrates putting a contact lense in.

A 67-year-old woman received quite the shock from doctors when she went in for a routine cataract surgery this past November only to learn that she had not one, not two, but 27 fucking contact lenses in one eye.

While you may say "Wait, this happened in November. Why is this coming to light now?" It's because the discovery, which occurred at Solihull Hospital in the UK, wasn't published until this month in an article in the BMJ.

Rupal Morjaria, who authored the paper, said that the woman had not complained of any pre-surgical vision troubles, but rather said that the doctors simply discovered the "blue mass" of contacts when the resident consultant anesthetist found it under the top eyelid. As it turns out that "mass" was 17 contacts, while 10 more were unearthed during a follow-up examination. "We were all shocked," said Morjaria, unshockingly. "We've never come across this."

If you're wondering how this happened, whether you're a fellow contact wearer or just a fan of bizarre ass news, the woman had apparently been using disposable contacts for the past 35 years. She told the surgeons that she occasionally was unable to find her lens and just figured that she had lost it. She said that she chalked up her discomfort to "dry eye and old age." Perhaps most interestingly (at least to me) is that while she had 27 lenses in her right eye, her left eye was completely fine.

The authors of the article say that they published it to raise awareness about the importance of having regular doctor visits if you wear contacts. They further added that if you do wear contacts, and feel a "funny sensation in the eye," when you don't take them out, then it's time to visit your doctor.

Additionally Thomas L. Steinemann, who's a clinical spokesman for the American Academy of Ophthalmology, says that symptoms of a trapped contact include light sensitivity, redness, and sharp/scratchy pain.

Don't let this write-up give you hypochondria. But, simultaneously, heed the warning.

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