After falling asleep with his contact lenses on, a 21-year-old contracted a rare flesh-eating parasite that caused him to lose sight in one eye.
- A young man has contracted an eye infection after falling asleep with his contact lenses on.
- This infection, caused by a flesh-eating parasite, caused him to lose sight in his right eye.
- He is now waiting for the possibility of a transplant to regain his sight.
Contact lenses correct the majority of visual disturbances. However, it is important to know the right actions to avoid infections. The misadventure of Mike Krumholz, a 21-year-old American, reminds us of this. He lost vision in his right eye after falling asleep with his patches.
A flesh-eating parasite infected his right eye
After a day of work with children last December, the young man from Florida took a nap without having taken the time to remove his contact lenses. When he woke up, he felt the same as when he suffers from conjunctivitis, an eye disorder also nicknamed “pink eye”.
“My contact lenses were itchy like they were floating in my eyes. I took them out and there was nothing wrong. So the next morning I woke up, went to play some baseball and had to take them out right away. I said to my parents, ‘I have to go to the eye doctor, something is wrong'”Mike Krumholz told the Daily Star.
He continued: “I thought I had ‘pink eye’ or something and it [le médecin] took a picture of the back of my eye after dilation – then acted like something was wrong.” At first, the doctor thought he had been infected with herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1). But despite treatment, his condition worsened. New scans showed the presence in his right eye of a rare flesh-eating parasite. baptized Acanthamoebahe attacked his cornea and his pupil.
Acanthamoeba keratitis: an unknown infection that causes loss of sight
The parasite caused an infection, called “acanthamoeba keratitis”. Present in water, it generally settles in the eye when the patient swims or showers with his lenses. Infection can also develop when the patch is cleaned with tap water. One in 50,000 contact lens wearers develops this disease.
Mike explains that this eye disorder causes significant suffering: “the pain comes more from the back of my eye, at the very top [de l’arrière de ma tête] and go down [vers le devant]. It’s like a constant shock, it’s a constant pain. I normally have a good pain tolerance, but I cried out in pain.”
The American has lost his sight in his right eye for the time being. His pupil and cornea are now cloudy. “It’s because the parasite has eaten away at so much of it. The doctors said I’m not eligible for an eye transplant right now because I’m 21 so I’m younger and my body doesn’t wouldn’t bear”he explained to Daily Star.
He pursues : “my eye is too inflamed to harvest human tissue from another eye, my body would not accept it right now and I would need another transplant so it would continue to get worse”. However, he does not give up on being able to benefit from this type of care soon: “If I ever qualify for it, I’m hoping it will give me at least 50% vision or something so I can see a little.” In the meantime, Mike is trying to educate as many people as possible via his TikTok account about the dangers of keeping your contact lenses on for sleeping or showering.
@mikekrumholz13 Replying to @live2xl I trust my doctors There’s less than 10 doctors around the world that are really good with treating this rare infection from what I’ve heard I have my corneal transplant today ‼️???????? This is my chance to get some vision back and to be in a lot less intense pain hopefully today goes well and I can make a YouTube video breaking down this whole journey for you guys https://www.dailystar.co.uk/real -life/i-fell-asleep-wearing-contacts-29210800 #eyes #contactlenses #acanthamoebakeratitis #fyp #surgery #miami #Florida #trending #corneatransplant ♬ Sunshine – WIRA
