Student Almost Ripped Out Her Eyeball When She Tried To Remove Her Contact Lens
She was nearly blinded.
By John Lim — 02 Nov 2016, 10:45 AM
Meabh McHugh-Hill from Ireland started having blurred vision after keeping her contact lenses in for around 10 hours. In a bid to remove them, she accidentally tore off her cornea in her left eye.
As a result, her left eye was shut for more than a week.
“I didn’t realise that I had kept them in that long. They started to get really dry and I went upstairs, I basically pulled them out and scraped the front of my eye. I suffered a week of unbearable pain - it was excruciating, like nothing I’ve ever experienced before,” she said as quoted by Independent ie.
She quickly went to the doctors and was told to stay in bed for a week with the curtains drawn to prevent any light from being let in - which was causing her pain.
Luckily for the 23-year-old, she escaped losing her eyesight but was told by the doctors that she'll never be able to wear contact lenses or undergo laser surgery
However, she now has a permanent scar on her pupil and can only wear one contact lens in her right eye.
McHugh-Hill began wearing contact lenses when she was 16 as she hated wearing glasses. However, she regularly suffered from dry eyes and infections and would always use eye-drops to put her contacts in.
She would often wear her contact lenses for up to 12 hours. Eye specialists recommend that lenses be left in for no longer than eight hours, as the eyes end up being deprived of oxygen.
"McHugh-Hill was incredibly lucky, but it is unfortunate that she will now have to wear glasses for the rest of her life, having caused so much damage to her eye that she can no longer wear contact lenses or undergo laser eye surgery," said Dr David Allamby, an English eye expert.
