If you are a contact wearer, you know how easy it is to slack a little – you may not wash the case as often (or ever), you may overextend their wear (by, like, three months), and you may occasionally snooze, swim and shower in them. In fact, 99 percent of contact wearers make these contact care slips.
As harmless as these offenses against the eye doctor seem, a recent study found that contact lens wearers have a risk for infections 10 times greater than those who don’t wear them, and these seemingly small infractions cause roughly 30% of cornea infections. A third of 1,000 contact wearers surveyed had to visit the eye doctor due to irritation or infection.
They’ve also noticed an increase in Acanthamoeba infections, which was very rare (one in a million type of rare). In recent years, there’s been increase to about 15 out of a million contact wearers. 10 to 20 percent of these cases will require corneal transplants, and one to three percent will lead to blindness. Yikes!
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