I want to make people aware of the reality of the Acanthamoeba eye parasite because my daughter was recently (5/29/07) diagnosed with this infection and I would not wish for this to happen to anyone else! Fortunately it only affected one eye. If you wear contact lenses or know someone who does, you need to really be careful with how you clean and take care of your contacts. Whether you use the AMO Moisture Plus solution as she did (that was recalled 5/28/07) or other solutions, you can get an Acanthamoeba infection. This recent recall was not because the parasite is in solution, it's just not strong enough to kill it! From some of the research I've done online and our doctor agreed, many solutions that mention being lubricating, comfort plus, moisture plus etc...these types of solutions do not offer the protection needed to kill this awful parasite. Basically the Dr said 'anything that's supposed to make your eye more comfortable, is also comfy for bugs'. One can pick up this parasite in hot tubs, pools, lakes, and tap water. Our doctor recommends using Opti-free Express contact solution. We don't know and probably never will know how our daughter came into contact with it .....but I caution you to use extra care when handling and using contacts. Also soft contacts add to the possibilty of the parasite getting trapped between the eye and contact. (Don't shower or swim with your contacts in.) If you start experiencing eye irritation (like sand in your eye), light sensitivity and especially if you’ve used this AMO contact solution, go see your eye doctor! Don’t put it off! Many times this is hard to diagnose in its early stages. Our daughter first started having problems early April and they thought it was a bacterial infection and treated it as such. But it was not responding to treatment. After many painful days for her, numerous trips to Duke, and mega amounts of money spent on drugs, she was finally diagnosed with this parasite at the end of May. This type of thing can take months to get rid of so the earlier you’re diagnosed the better. FYI – she stopped wearing contacts when this first started. They did not make the parasite connection until that solution was recalled and we told them that that was what she’d used in the past. Although they asked her early on if she’d been swimming, showering with contacts in, etc (which she had not), they did not think that was what it was. If you have questions, please feel free to respond. Some good websites: http://www.aoa.org/x8186.xml (explains symptoms and treatments) lots of good information and support groups: http://www.preventblindness.org./discus/messages/19921/19921.html?1180541816
Thanks for the info! I have used every contact solution that has now been recalled but luckily have not had any issues at all!
I use CIBA Vision solution and CIBA Vision contacts. My contacts are two-week disposables, but I wear them generally for a month because I remove them each day and treat them as daily wear. This way, I have a brand new fresh pair every month, yet can stretch them out longer than two weeks. Plus, I'm resting my eyes periodically during the day and night. CIBA Vision is one of the few solutions that I don't think has been recalled yet. The cleaning solution comes with a cup with a lid with flip up hinged contact lenses holders inside the cup. The disc at the bottom looks like a cog gear and interacts with the buffered hydrogen peroxide cleaning solution and producing oxygenation through hundreds of little bubbles passing through the lenses. I then do the enyzme cleaner tablets about every week to week and half.
My daughter used the 2 week disposables from Ciba-vision too and she also took them out each night, but she only used the soaking/cleaning solutions (not Ciba-vision) at night. Sounds like you're doing alot of the right things to protect yourself, that's great.
I do occasionally shower with my contacts in, however. I would think that any kind of microbe wouldn't live in just any water environment. Is it present in clorinated city water, as well. If so, I guess that means people should wear goggles even in swimming pools. Anyway...caring4one...I hope that your daughter has a complete recovery from it. Are the doctors optimistic about the long-term health of her eye? Anyway, I'll keep her in my prayers.
Jester - chlorine does help, (one of the medications is actually nicknamed "the pool cleaner" because it is a type of chlorine LOL!) but the problem for contact wearers is that the parasite can get trapped between the contact and the cornea, and enter thru the cornea. With people who don't wear contacts, it usually gets washed out. The doctors say she will recover, but she will have to have (90% sure at this time) a corneal transplant because she has so much scarring on her cornea now. Right now she sees about 20/80 out of that eye, with her glasses on. Thank you for your prayers and kind words.
