Soft contacts’ hard lesson

From 2010 to 2015, contact sports accounted for 45% of the 283,000 U.S. emergency department visits kids made each year for sports- and recreation-related traumatic brain injuries. Contact can be very risky. So can contacts -- that’s reusable soft contacts.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that 95% of the 45 million folks in the U.S. who wear contact lenses opt for the soft lenses and 99% of them admit to at least one habit that ups their risk for eye infections such as keratitis. It’s the reason for around 1 million doctor and hospital visits annually.

There are several forms of keratitis: bacterial, fungal, viral and one caused by the parasite acanthamoeba. This is Acanthamoeba keratitis or AK. Now, a study published in Ophthalmology reveals that if you wear reusable soft contact lenses, you have 3.8 times the odds of developing AK, compared to people using daily disposable lenses. Showering with your lenses more than triples the chances of developing AK; wearing lenses overnight almost quadruples the risk.

It can take weeks or months to resolve AK’S eye pain and redness, blurred vision and excessive tearing. A cornea transplant may be necessary and, if untreated, AK can cause blindness. But 30% to 62% of cases could be avoided if folks switched from reusables to daily disposable lenses. So, if you’re using multiple-use lenses, be meticulous about handling and disinfecting them; never swim, shower or use a hot tub while wearing them; and talk to your ophthalmologist about switching to daily disposables.