A woman had a swollen eye, and it was a rather surprising discovery that her contact lenses were the cause. Specifically, there were five separate contact lenses that had built up under her upper eyelid.
According to a case report in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, a 33-year-old woman, who was otherwise in good health, visited a plastic surgery clinic in China. She wanted to fix what she saw as “facial contour asymmetry.” To give her a more balanced look, the doctors recommended a fat injection, which was carried out while she was sedated.
But during the fat injection procedure, something unexpected happened. Several transparent contact lenses moved out from the upper fornix, which is the space between the upper eyelid and the eyeball. When the doctors turned her left upper eyelid inside out, they found a total of five soft contact lenses. It seemed that when the fat was injected, it compressed the space, pushing the lenses out.
The woman later said that she had been wearing contact lenses for many years. She remembered that she had lost her left contact lens several times in the past. What was strange was that she hadn’t had any eye problems before this plastic surgery.
The doctors warned other plastic surgeons. When they treat patients with a similar facial contour asymmetry, they should be aware that there could be larger hidden spaces in the upper fornix. This increases the risk of dislodged contact lenses being hidden there.
The report also pointed out that soft contact lenses are soft and hydrophilic, which makes them less easy to notice. This isn’t the first time doctors have found multiple contact lenses stuck in someone’s eye. In California, an ophthalmologist became famous after sharing a video of herself taking out 23 contact lenses from under a patient’s eye. In that case, the patient had simply forgotten to remove them.
So, why don’t people seem to feel any physical discomfort from these lenses? Dr. Katarina Kurteeva, an ophthalmologist at California Eye Associates in Newport Beach, told ABC7 that when you wear contact lenses for 20 to 30 years, the cornea, the most sensitive part of the eye, becomes less sensitive. This is actually a protective feature. Otherwise, you’d be really bothered by wearing contact lenses every day since they are foreign objects in your eye.
It’s very important to always remove your contact lenses before going to bed at night. The Cleveland Clinic makes it clear: Is it safe to sleep with contacts? The simple answer is no. Sleeping with contacts increases the risk of eye ulcers, infections, and yes, the lenses moving around.
Even if you’re just taking a short nap, you should still take out your contact lenses. Falling asleep, even for a short time, raises the risk of eye irritation or infection.
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