beware of the risk of eye infection

Contact lens wearers often tend to forget the strict hygiene instructions these days. However, they should not be kept in the beach shower to remove the salt, nor at home for that matter. Do not touch them with dirty or badly dried hands after washing. Because the lenses, placed on the cornea, cause friction which constantly creates small gaps, entry points for bacteria. If your hands are dirty, there is a risk of having some specimens of the famous staphylococci on them, for example. On the skin, if they are not golden, who cares. In the eye, it can do significant damage. It often starts with pain, redness, sensitivity to light. It is better to remove your lens urgently and do not hesitate to consult, remembering to say if you have been a little negligent. An infection treated late can leave serious sequelae.

There is even in all waters, except the sea, an even more dangerous parasite: the amoeba acanthamoeba. Much rarer but much more dangerous, it can be in lakes and rivers but also in our drinking water networks or swimming pools. Because this parasite has a superpower: to survive as if in hibernation, in a kind of shell. There, no chemical treatment can reach it. The problem is that one of the places it loves to come back to life is our eyes. And it also achieves this thanks to the misuse of contact lenses, as explained by Pr Eric Gabison, ophthalmic surgeon at the Rothschild Foundation in Paris. He teaches his interns to take very seriously patients who seem to be cozy with a barely red eye. It may be an amoeba first settled on the nerves of the cornea.

The longer you wait, the longer and more complex the treatments are likely to be. The regulars of the 1 p.m. newspaper on TF1 are aware since the presenter, Marie-Sophie Lacarrau had to stop for five months to get by. Fortunately, it’s rare, but sometimes a corneal transplant is essential to save your sight. So it is better to remain vigilant, even in summer.