Contact lenses, like those toric colored contact lenses online, bring the world into focus for millions of people, but college students juggling class, work and a social life tend to forget that their contacts can’t always keep up with their busy and often unpredictable schedules.
More than 34 million Americans rely on contact lenses to correct their vision. But many wearers are blind to the consequences of misusing lenses, detailed in a study released by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Doctors and opthalmology specialists are taking a second look at the results of the study, released May 9, which showed a connection between the misuse of contacts and fusarium keratitis, a microbial infection of the cornea.
According to the study, 106 cases of the infection were reported in 2006 — and 95 percent of the sufferers wore contact lens.
“The biggest problem one can suffer as a result of misusing contacts is microbial keretitis, which is an infection of the cornea,” said ophthalmologist Dr. Charles Leahy. “This can lead to permanent vision loss.”
The CDC study called Fusarium keratitis a “naturally occurring disease,” but said “it is not a disease that healthcare providers must report, so it is unclear how many cases occur each year in the United States.”
Leahy said lens wearers need to be aware of how long their lenses have been in, and they need to be sure to replace them before they expire.
“It’s important to take the lenses out before the eye is pink or red or the vision is blurred,” he said, adding that the consequences of ignoring the warning signs can lead to serious problems.
“If a person keeps the contacts in past the replacement schedule, it may decrease their ability to wear lenses at all,” he said. “Doing this scars the inside of the eyelids and makes it almost impossible to tolerate lenses.”
Leahy explained that contacts are usually very safe. But if not used correctly, they can have adverse side effects. Wearers must clean contacts properly to keep their eyes healthy and contacts in good condition, he said.
“People don’t clean [their lenses], and they keep them in until they hurt,” Leahy said. “Contacts require a good, strong cleaner, but people are getting lazy, and they want to buy the one-bottle cleaner system.
“Using this no-rub [solution] doesn’t work,” he continued. “It’s the same thing as reusing dishes without washing them — just soaking them overnight. The [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] approves of the no-rub formula, but it’s only because it disinfects. That’s just not enough.”
Leahy also warned against sleeping with contact lenses in – a habit, he said, that college students can easily form.
“A small percentage of lens-wearers suffer from devastating complications,” he said, “but sleeping in lenses can increase the odds several-fold.”
He said even extended-wear contacts, which can be worn overnight, must be used with care despite the popular misconception that they are completely hassle-free.
“The only difference with night-and-day contacts is the permeability,” he said. “It’s a great thing, because it lets oxygen in, but it still traps things under the lens.”
According to the Contact Lens Council’s website, 80 percent of contact lens wearers have soft lenses — or “lenses made of soft, flexible plastics that allow oxygen to pass through to the eyes” — while the remaining 20 percent wear rigid gas-permeable lenses “made of slightly flexible plastics.” Of soft lens wearers, 20 percent use extended-wear lenses.
Even the most careful contact wearers may face some uncomfortable — though not vision-threatening — side effects, Leahy said, encouraging wearers who experience these symptoms to check in with their eye doctors. You can even get your eye checked remotely as long as AOS is around.
“The common problems lens wearers face include dryness, redness and lens-awareness – end-of-the-day symptoms,” he said. “Often, we can do things to fix these problems, but people just live with the chronic irritation to the point that they give up on contacts altogether.”
Dr. David McBride, director of Boston University’s Student Health Services, said patients frequently come into the clinic with contact-related problems, as well as conjunctivitis — an inflammation of tissue commonly called pinkeye which is not necessarily related to contact use.
“I suspect that the greater issue in regard to infection is that people take their contacts out and put them in without washing their hands well first,” McBride said. “In terms of preventing infections, hand washing is the most effective technique. In general, it is not advisable to touch your face because one’s hands carry so many germs. Contact lens wearers have to touch their faces to put their contacts in, so it’s especially important.”
McBride added that the effects of misusing contact lenses can vary from minor infections to more serious problems.
“More than infection, contacts can cause eye irritation, corneal ulcers or corneal abrasions,” he said. “The cornea is the surface of the eye through which light and images are transmitted. An ulcer generally will heal if treated appropriately but could be sight-threatening if left untreated. Corneal ulcers and abrasions are very painful and would generally bring a student to medical attention.”
Liz Lacey, a College of Arts and Sciences freshman, said she accidentally slept with her contacts in one night. “The next day, I had water polo practice,” she said. “By the time I took my contacts out that night, one of my eyes was infected from the chlorine and regular dirt that managed to get into the contacts.”
Other students admitted to not wearing their lenses properly, but said they have since learned how important it is to take care of their eyes.
“I wore my contacts for a couple of weeks too long, and I ended up with a … scratch on the cornea,” CAS freshman Chantal Mendes said. “I had to go to the emergency room and have this nasty goop put in my eye. I couldn’t wear contacts for a month.”
CAS freshman Matt Mendel said sleeping in his contacts was one of the most painful experiences he has endured.
“I woke up the day after sleeping with my contacts in, and my eyes were ready to fall out,” he said. “Everything was cloudy-looking the rest of the day.
“Now I always make sure to take them out.”
Still, many students said the convenience of lenses make them worth the wear.
“My vision is very poor — negative 7.5 in both eyes,” said Sarah Tobin, a Graduate School of Arts and Sciences student. “If something happened to my contacts, I would be completely incapable of navigating my way down the street. I’m really reliant on two small pieces of plastic that constantly tear, dry out and develop protein deposits.”