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From: tab@vax135.UUCP (Tracey Baker)
Newsgroups: net.misc
Subject: Re: Soft Contact Lens Horror Stories
Message-ID: <1251@vax135.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 23-Dec-85 18:52:18 EST
Article-I.D.: vax135.1251
Posted: Mon Dec 23 18:52:18 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 25-Dec-85 01:19:41 EST
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	A "horror story" that happened to me recently may be of
interest - and warning -  to other soft contact lens wearers:
I wore soft lenses for a little over a year with no problem
until one day they felt a little uncomfortable while I was at work.
I didn't think much of it - maybe I was just tired, but
I took them out as soon as I got home just to be safe.
My eye was still irritated after I took them out, but
I thought it would go away with a good night's sleep.
The next morning, however, I couldn't even open
my eye - excruciating pain whenever light hit it.
Luckily there was someone there to take me to the
hospital - I don't think I could have found the
telephone.

After the emergency room and a visit to my opthamologist,
I was informed that something had caused my lens to
shrink, and this had caused oxygen starvation of
my iris.  The iris was swollen, which caused the
painful reaction when it tried to adjust to changes
in lighting.

The opthamologist told me that this condition is often
caused by exposure to chemicals in the air - something
I hadn't been told when I got my lenses.  Apparently,
the things that can cause this may be found in very
unlikely places - one example from the doctor was a
person who worked in a department store and claimed that
the irritation started after opening a box of new acrylic
sweaters.

If you are a contact lens wearer, be conscious of even
minor irritations in your eyes!! By removing the lenses
at the first sign of trouble, you may avoid the kind of
trouble I had.  This may seem obvious to most people,
but many contact lens wearers (like me) ignore small
irritations because they usually don't lead to anything
serious.  Maybe this will open a few people's eyes :-),
and save them from a lot of trouble.

-Tracey Baker
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