Contact Lens Users Increasingly Facing Potentially Blinding Eye Infections

The FDA panel of experts have decided to have a closer look at contact lens safety after watching a sharp rise in a potentially blinding eye infection involving people who wear contact lenses.

Take the instance of Kim Tobin who never sees things in quite the same way again. Tobin's eyesight went from clear to blurry when she got infected with acanthamoeba, a parasite that lives in water. In Tobin's case, she got it when water from a hot tub splashed into her eye. Tobin, a cornea transplant patient, said."It just kind of killed my eye. Did so much damage to my eye."

Doctors said simply getting water in her eyes puts her at risk. Doctors say water contaminated with acanthamoeba can come from lakes, rivers, swimming pools, drinking water and even the shower.

Dr. Kristin Hammersmith, of Wills Eye at Jefferson Hospital, said many patients lose vision, or lose their eye. She said one should never expose eyes to water while wearing contact lens and never wash contact lens in water. Hammersmith recommended a daily throwaway contact lens over other soft contact lenses, as to avoid putting contacts back in a contaminated case or in contaminated solution.