dave@cylixd.UUCP (Dave Kirby) (12/06/85)
When I first got my contacts (the extended wear soft lenses), a good
friend of mine shared with me a few horror stories from his experience
with contacts. Well, he used to be a good friend. :-) The stories
really didn't bother me, though, because they had to do with hard
contacts. I am of the sinister type that loves such morbid discussions,
and so I thought I would post a couple of horror stories to the net,
in case there are other demented folk who like sick stories like these,
or who have some horror stories of their own to share. DISCLAIMER: Not
everyone with hard contacts has these chilling experiences, and this
posting is not meant to imply any such thing. It is submitted purely for
its morbid content, without any redeeming social value at all.
*** WARNING! SKIP THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE! HIT 'N' KEY NOW! ***
HORROR STORY #1
My friend showed me a little tool the doctor gave him when he got
his hard contacts. It looked like a tiny plumber's helper. He said it
was to use when your contacts were on too tight and wouldn't come off.
Just stick this thing in your eye, and Presto! pulls the little sucker
right off! Just be careful, he said, to use it ONLY when you know for
certain there is a contact lens in your eye, or it would stick to your
eyeball and you would have a miserable time getting it unstuck.
HORROR STORY #2
My friend swears this is true. A guy he knew lost his hard contact
one day, and looked all over for it to no avail. He did have insurance,
so he went to the doctor and got another one.
Within a few days his eye was constantly red, and he could barely
keep it open. He went to the doctor to find out what was wrong with
the lens. The doctor pulled out the lens (no doubt with the little
torture device mentioned above), examined it, and could find nothing
wrong with it. He prescribed another lens, though, just to be sure.
The eye kept getting worse, and the poor fellow couldn't keep the
lens in at all eventually. But even after he had gone without a lens
in his eye, it still was red all the time and hurt badly.
He went back to the doctor, who examined his eye very closely. This
time the doctor found the problem. On the bottom of the eyeball was the
old contact lens the man thought he lost! It had just slipped
underneath the eyeball and wedged there between the eye and the socket.
By now skin had grown around the lens, and it had to be surgically
removed.
AUUUUUUUUUGH! *shiver* I warned you.
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Dave Kirby ( ...!ihnp4!akgub!cylixd!dave)tomczak@harvard.UUCP (Bill Tomczak) (12/08/85)
In article <554@cylixd.UUCP> dave@cylixd.UUCP (Dave Kirby) writes: > >When I first got my contacts (the extended wear soft lenses), a good >friend of mine shared with me a few horror stories from his experience >with contacts. >... I am of the sinister type that loves such morbid discussions, >and so I thought I would post a couple of horror stories to the net, >in case there are other demented folk who like sick stories like these, Yes, I will count myself among the disturbed.... I'm not sure I believe either of these stories (I used to wear hard lenses a long time ago in a galaxy far far away...) as I never received the tiny plumber's tool for removing lenses, nor even heard of such a thing the whole time I wore hard lenses. The second story sounds more plausible if hard to believe. Any doctors out there care to verify whether the body would react that way? (skin growing over a 'lost' contact lens in the corner of the eye). If it DID happen I hope that eye doctor was sued out of ever practicing eye-doctoring again (at least until after his death, anyway :-)). The closest thing to a horror story I have is, I think common to many wearers of hard contact lenses. Even though we were told not to do it, many of us would secretly confess to each other that, in a pinch, we would stick the lenses in our mouth to properly moisten them before putting back in our eyes (or was it to 'clean' any errant dust or garbage off them? I forget). Once, during my Anthropology class in high school, I was busy 'cleaning' one of my lenses this way and accidentally swallowed it. I didn't feel any ill effects subsequently though. For all I know, it's still in there clinging to the wall of one of my intestines (maybe with intestine lining grown over it! God! who started this discussion anyway??)..... bill tomczak@harvard.{HARVARD.EDU, UUCP}
bde@ihlpl.UUCP (Ewbank) (12/10/85)
> . . . in a pinch, we > would stick the lenses in our mouth to properly moisten them before > putting back in our eyes . . . another (long term) side effect of this practice that I have heard of is that the saliva will effectively digest the eye. All together now... eeeeeuuw gross! -- Bryan D. Ewbank >> one line generic disclamer here << # AT&T Bell Labs IH 6M-523 # ...!ihnp4!ihlpl!bde # # Naperville-Wheaton Rd. # # # Naperville, Illinois 60566 # 5813 Oakwood, Apt. E # # (312) 979 - 4296 # Lisle, Illinois 60532 #
falk@uiucuxc.CSO.UIUC.EDU (12/11/85)
{}
I believe both the contact lens stories. When I was first getting used to my
hard lenses I followed the "standard" wearing program (1hr. the first day, 2
the 2nd day, etc.). It was usually pretty easy to remember when to take them
out because my eye started aching around the n-hour mark. However, one day that
didn't happen, so I thought I would leave them in longer than the prescribed
time and promptly forgot about them.
Twelve hours later, at a friend's house, I remebered about my contacts and
decided to take them out before driving home. After I took them out, my eyes
began tearing, constantly, and I couldn't see a thing. I ended up spending the
night on the friend's couch with a towel around my face because my eyes
*wouldn't* stop tearing! Later that day, they finally stopped and I asked my
optometrist about it, but he had never heard anything like that happening to
others. To this day, I don't know what caused that episode. By the way, after
going through hard and soft contacts I am now back to wearing my glasses (sigh)
Connie Falk
(ihnp4!uiucdcs!uiucuxc!falk)galenr@iddic.UUCP (Galen Redfield) (12/13/85)
[spit in your eye] I wonder why people are so quick to believe these horror stories?? I got my hard contacts when I was in the eighth grade, way back in 1965. I still have the original contact lens on my left eye, and a replacement that I got eight years ago (after wearing the original one for 12) on my right eye. Of course, I take them out each day, so I have not worn contacts for 20 years, but I have worn them during that 20 years (I'm trying to write precisely, here). I have never lost one of them, but I did unfortunately step on one back in 1977 when I was taking them out one night after partying too much (hic). The guy who got his contact off the cornea and down "in between the eyeball and socket" (harr!) must have pretty numb eyes!! You can feel it when this happens. He must have ignored all the literature that you get free when you get contacts. There are numerous pictures showing that kind of thing. Did you know that the outside of your eyeball and the inside of your eyelid are connected, and that you can't get anything behind your eyeball, or in between it and the socket? Well, it's true!! The danger with using saliva as a wetting agent is bacterial infection. I've used saliva when nothing else was available (probably a few hundred times over the years), and have never had any infection. My eyeballs have not dissolved. The little suction device used by novice lens wearers is real, and it is real useful until you learn how to use your eyelids to pop the lenses out. It won't suck your cornea off, anymore than the contacts do. I guess people are extremely cautious about their eyes because they are relatively delicate, for a body part, and are a key sensory organ. I don't know why, it always makes me laugh to see people blink when they put eyedrops in, because I can hold my eye open and watch the drop hit. I think it feels good, but most people, including other contact lens wearers, seem to think it is uncomfortable to get hit in the eye with a drop of nice, soft liquid. I guess I'm just weird. Oh well, it's not the first time it's been noticed.... -- Warm regards, Galen.
dv@well.UUCP (David W. Vezie) (12/16/85)
Don't forget the Soft Contact lens horror stories... Like the one about
someone who forgot to rinse the enzyme solution off their lenses before
they put them back in their eye. They darned near lost the eye...
---
David W. Vezie
{dual|hplabs}!well!dv - Whole Earth 'Lectronics Link, Sausalito, CA
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