Taiwanese student goes blind for not taking contact lens for six months

A 23-year-old Taiwanese girl was blind in both eyes to an amoeba that devoured her eyeballs. Lian Kao wore a pair of disposable lenses uninterrupted for six months without even removing them for periodic cleaning or swimming.

The microscopic organism that settled in his eyes ( Acanthamoeba keratitis ) found the perfect environment to develop between the eyeball and the lens, eroding the cornea and leading to definitive blindness.

Dr. Wu Jiang-Iiang, director of ophthalmology at Taipei's Wan Fang Hospital, said a lack of eye oxygenation allowed the infection to settle. "She should have thrown her contact lenses away after a month, but instead she continued wearing them until the damage was permanent, " the doctor said.

Via InAbstract