In November 2016, a 67-year-old woman arrived at Solihull Hospital in England for routine cataract surgery. She had felt some discomfort in her right eye for a while but put it down to dry eyes and age.
As the anaesthetist held her eye open for the numbing drops, he spotted a bluish mass under her upper eyelid. It turned out to be 17 contact lenses stuck together in a hard clump, held by mucus. A closer look under a microscope revealed 10 more. In total, doctors removed 27 lenses from one eye.
She had worn monthly disposable lenses for 35 years. Sometimes, when she went to remove the lens from her right eye, she couldn’t find it and assumed it had fallen out. Instead, the lenses had been quietly piling up under her eyelid.
Doctors believe her deep-set eyes and weaker vision in that eye helped hide the problem. Her surgery was postponed to avoid infection. Two weeks later her eye felt far more comfortable, and she had the operation.
The case was so rare that it was published in the BMJ in July 2017. Most eye specialists did not think anyone could carry that many lenses without severe symptoms.
The lesson for contact lens wearers: a lens can’t get lost behind your eye, but it can hide under the eyelid. If a lens seems to vanish or your eye feels uncomfortable, get it checked, and don’t skip regular eye exams.
