Anyone ever heard of this?

[troysteelerfan]

My wife needed to go the eye doctor....she needs to update her Rx....and she thinks she needs bi-focals....so she goes to the eye doctor that we always go to (both of us go to the same place and have always had good service and no problems)...this time they tell her part of the problem with her vision is her cornea is damaged and gave her steroid drops to use for a month and then she is to go back to be checked again. The doctor also told her that she would no longer be able to wear contact lenses because she is "allergic to contacts"...I have never heard of this .... she has worn contacts since she was 15.....and now all of a sudden she is allergic to contacts? Seems strange to me and I have never heard of it - any thoughts and comments would be appreciated. Thanks

[Martini]

Time for a second opinion?

[holdemholmes]

Time for a second opinion?

Apparently there is such a thing..."
Small bumps on the inside of an eyelid in a person who wears contact lenses usually mean a condition called giant papillary conjunctivitis (GPC). This is an allergic condition, often due to protein build-up on contact lenses, as well as an eye allergy to components of contact lens storage solutions."

I found it here: http://www.allaboutvision.com/askdoc/contact-lenses.htm

[troysteelerfan]

We are getting a second opinion and I find the same information about the eye infection but the doc we usually go to said it wasn't like that - it was contacts not an infection caused by the contacts but the contacts themselves so that even once this infection is cleared up and her eye is healthy again and she gets new contacts it wouldn't matter.

[pauld22]

I'll talk with the wife in the AM.  She worked for an optician for a while and may have heard about this.

[troysteelerfan]

I'll talk with the wife in the AM.  She worked for an optician for a while and may have heard about this.

Thanks

[pauld22]

I'll talk with the wife in the AM.  She worked for an optician for a while and may have heard about this.

Thanks

Yeah, sorry, she has no clue.  She hasn't been there for quite a few years...I just took a flyer to see what she knew.  Hope everything works out well.

[troysteelerfan]

I'll talk with the wife in the AM.  She worked for an optician for a while and may have heard about this.

Thanks

Yeah, sorry, she has no clue.  She hasn't been there for quite a few years...I just took a flyer to see what she knew.  Hope everything works out well.

No worries - thanks for checking - she has a few follow ups with other doctors.  Thanks

[blindman]

I thought I would share my 2 cents here on allergies. I had none until I was in my mid 30's, now I can't even cut the grass! So this could very well be possible. As we get older, our bodies change, so he may be right. Sad part is, that after all these years, she may have been doing damage to the eyes by wearing contacts. I am no doctor, but like I said, I never had any trouble with any allergies until later on in life.  Wishing you and your wife all the best. Keep us posted. Cheers!

[troysteelerfan]

Thanks to all for their replies and concerns.  My wife and I went to an eye specialist / opthamologist today.  Her left cornea is fairly badly damaged.  They are saying it was caused by the fact her eye apparently stopped producing enough tears etc to keep her eye lubricated .... her allergy symptoms (or what she thought was simply allergy symptoms) had masked what the real problem was / is - they have put her on drops and meds for another month and are hoping that her cornea will heal itself and then she can get a new prescription to correct her vision better.  But they did tell us that her days of wearing contacts are over.  So we will wait a month and then go back and see if there is any improvement. 

and by the way - while there the doctor did one of the grossest things I have ever seen in my life....he numbed her left eye and then pulled out her bottom eyelid and top eyelid far enough and then turned it inside out and upside down and contorted in all manners - it about made me hurl....YUCK - she said she couldn't feel anything but could "see" what he was doing....

[holdemholmes]

Good to hear that there is hope for improvement...after hearing horror stories like this I think I will be sticking with glasses. Best of luck to her.

[troysteelerfan]

Good to hear that there is hope for improvement...after hearing horror stories like this I think I will be sticking with glasses. Best of luck to her.

I am not sure but I don't think her contacts had much to do with it - seems like there was other problems with her eyes and not producing enough tears.....however I am also going to start wearing my glasses more:)