CORNEAL ULCER

This is a 29 year old patient who wears her Acuvue Oasys Contact Lenses from the time she gets up until she goes to bed, every day. She complained of pain, redness, and light sensitivity.

Examination shows a single corneal ulcer. This is a bacterial ulcer, similar to what occurs with stomach ulcers. It must be treated very aggressively with a high initial dosage of very potent topical antibiotics and the patient must be followed nearly every day until resolution.

This patient is very fortunate. The ulcer is located peripherally enough that any scar will not effect her vision. She also came in early enough to limit it's progression before it became worse. These ulcers can cause permanent decrease in vision, due to scarring along the visual axis. Aggressive, poorly managed ulcers can cause complete loss of the eye.

People with problems like this are always those who over-wear their contact lenses and they don't dispose of their lenses when they're supposed to. For some reason the patients I see coming in to my office are usually wearing Acuvue Oasys lenses.

The people who do the best in contact lenses are those who rest their eyes from the contacts a few hours a day and a day or two a week.