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Wednesday 6 March 2013

Tabloid reports third eye loss story with CLs


Tabloid newspaper The Sun has carried its third story in the past month on a contact lens wearer losing an eye after an infection.
In this case, a grandmother was reported to have developed Acanthamoebakeratitis after swimming while wearing contact lenses in a holiday pool in Kusadasi, Turkey in October. The Sun said that she needed to have her left eye removed and was now struggling to see from her other eye and has had to give up work.
It claimed that UK doctors first blamed conjunctivitis, then three weeks later 'an expert diagnosed the Acanthamoeba bug'.
Medics said a shower in Britain may also be to blame and warned against swimming or showering with lenses in.
On February 1 The Sun carried a report blaming Fusarium for the loss of a contact lens wearer's eye (Mum claims contact lens fungus ate away her eye), followed by another eye loss story through Fusarium on February 11 (Contact lens fungus ate my eye too).
The British Contact Lens Association said the infection rate of Acanthamoeba was approximately one in 30,000 contact lens wearers and its website explained that in around 85 per cent of cases the condition was associated with contact lens use.
Secretary general of the Association of Contact Lens Manufacturers Simon Rodwell responded that it was very concerned at the misplaced attitude towards contact lenses and would give a formal response in due course.


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