A woman wore cosmetic contact lenses for 10 hours a day, causing her cornea to be covered with new blood vessels and appear grayish white

Ms. Lin (a pseudonym), 33, has been wearing contact lenses for 7 years, up to 10 hours a day. Recently, she developed symptoms such as red eyes and photophobia. She went to the hospital for a check-up, and the doctor found that her cornea was severely damaged and had turned grayish white.

Ms. Lin is an office worker who often sits in front of a computer for more than 6 hours. For the sake of beauty, Ms. Lin, who has more than 500 degrees of myopia, has worn colored contact lenses (commonly known as "beauty lenses") for 7 years. She wears contact lenses from the morning when she goes to work to the evening when she goes home to remove her makeup and wash up, and she wears them for up to 10 hours a day.

Last week, Ms. Lin's eyes suddenly felt extremely painful, and she also had symptoms of redness, dryness, and photophobia. Similar situations have happened before, but they would be relieved as long as she stopped wearing contact lenses for a period of time. But this time, no matter how much she rested, her eyes did not get better, so she came to the Aier Eye Hospital affiliated to Wuhan University for treatment.

Dr. Yang Wanju, deputy chief physician of the hospital's ocular surface and corneal disease department, found that not only was Ms. Lin's cornea grayish white, but it also had edema and hypoxia. Her eyelid margins were red and swollen, her conjunctiva was congested, and it was "covered" with a large number of new blood vessels. Fluorescein staining showed diffuse staining.

"Normally the cornea is transparent and there are no blood vessels on it, but this patient's cornea was 'covered' with new blood vessels, and they appeared grayish white. Considering the patient's daily habits, this is probably due to wearing cosmetic contact lenses for a long time, coupled with incomplete cleaning of the contact lenses, which caused inflammation and hypoxia of the tissues," said Dr. Yang Wanju.

Afterwards, after tear secretion tests and meibomian gland function tests, Ms. Lin was diagnosed with bilateral blepharitis, bilateral keratoconjunctivitis, and bilateral dry eye syndrome. Because Ms. Lin sought medical treatment in time, her vision has not been affected yet. Dr. Yang Wanju told Ms. Lin to stop wearing contact lenses and developed a treatment plan for her. After a period of treatment, Ms. Lin's condition has improved significantly.

Dr. Yang Wanju introduced that it is understood that the department sees quite a few patients every year who suffer from eye diseases due to improper wearing of contact lenses. Some patients have more serious symptoms than Ms. Lin, and some are even on the verge of blindness.

Therefore, Dr. Yang Wanju reminds that it is best not to wear contact lenses for more than 8 hours a day, avoid wearing them overnight, and wash your hands before wearing them. When you first start wearing them, you should pay attention to gradual wear. It is not advisable to wear them for more than 4 hours on the first day, and then increase them day by day if there is no discomfort. If you experience symptoms such as red eyes, eye pain, photophobia, and tearing, it is recommended to stop wearing contact lenses immediately and go to the hospital for treatment in time.