Ming’s Wisdom

from http://www.care-mates.com/blog/?p=491:

An infection from an acanthamoeba, a tiny parasite living in the cornea, if left untreated, may cause a patient to lose their eye in a matter of days.

Opthalmologist Dr. Kenneth Maverick says, “you ask a patient what their degree of pain is, and an acanthamoeba is a 10 out of 10. And that’s because it actually nibbles on some of the nerves in the eye.”

With a confocal microscope, eye specialists can see the tiny living organisms in real time that create dark circles on a scan. Powerful eye drops, made from the same chemicals as pool cleaner, kill the parasites.

The amoeba often come from pools, hot tubs, and even well water. Proper handling of contact lenses, as well as using new contact lens cases every month can help protect patients from infection.

“Just general common sense. And if you have a contaminated contact, throw it out,” Dr. Maverick said. “It’s better than losing your eye.”

Acanthamoeba infections are most common in the south where the weather is warmer. Overall, the risk of contracting the disease is about 1 in 10,000 for contact lens wearers.

Moral of the story: Be careful to use clean contact lens cases replaced every month, and don’t skimp on the contact lens fluid when cleaning your lenses. I know several of you have a habit of trying to save contact lens fluid and use as little as possible, I won’t name names now, but stop being  cheap and don’t become blind.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 19th, 2010 at 15:31 and is filed under Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.