|
Home > Contact
lenses > Health
Contact Lens Health
Blindness risk for contact lens wearers
Contact lens wearers should avoid tap water
Contact lens wearers in the south of England are nine times
more likely to pick up an eye infection that could permanently
damage their sight than people in the rest of the country.
A study by doctors at London's Moorfields Eye Hospital has
found huge geographical variations in the rate of acanthamoeba
keratitis (AK) infection across England and Wales.
They believe the variations in AK infection - a rare condition
that causes pain and irritation in the eyes and loss of
sight in serious cases - could be linked to differences
in water hardness across the country.
Contact lens wearers need to be particularly careful when
it comes to hygiene and to disinfecting their lenses
Dr Cherry Radford, Moorfields Eye Hospital
The doctors have suggested that infections are being caused
by people failing to disinfect their lenses properly or
wearing them while swimming or showering.
The study, published in the latest issue of the British
Journal of Ophthalmology, examined AK infections in England
and Wales between 1997 and 1999.
Tap water risk
It found that most cases involved contact lens wearers
in southern England and suggested hard water in the area
could be to blame.
Limescale in hard water allows the growth of amoebae and
the infection seems to be caused when wearers allow tap
water to come into contact with their lenses when storing
them or washing and showering.
Soft lenses worn for between a week and a month carried
the greatest risk.
Doctors said wearers should be made aware of the condition
and take more care to disinfect their lenses.
Dr Cherry Radford from London's Moorfields Eye Hospital
said the chances of contracting the infection were still
very low.
BBC News
|
