Two young women experience eye burns from contact lenses

Chen Yaakov (16.5) and Or Cohen (15), two young women from Hadera, ordered colored contact lenses from a well-known e-commerce site overseas. Last Thursday, they inserted the lenses and a few hours later their eyes started tearing and they experienced severe pain. They removed the contacts, but the pain got progressively worse, along with burning, redness and blurred vision. They came in to the Emergency Room at Hillel Yaffe Medical Center, and after a series of tests, were diagnosed with chemical burns on the cornea. After intensive flushing of their eyes in the Emergency Room, they were transferred to the Ophthalmology Department and Department of Pediatrics for continued care.

Dr. Daniel Wasserman, a cornea specialist, and Dr. Polina Iskovitz-Albagali, a physician in the Ophthalmology Department, who treated the young women, said, “Improper use of contact lenses can be very dangerous. Before inserting contact lenses, you should consult an optometrist or ophthalmologist. The girls were very lucky that they got to the hospital in time, and through local care they improved significantly, and we were able to prevent the injury from getting worse.”

Dr. Ramez Barbara and Dr. Polina Iskovitz-Albagali of the Ophthalmology Department at Hillel Yaffe Medical Center

Dr. Ramez Barbara, a cornea specialist with Hillel Yaffe’s Ophthalmology Department, added, “Using unapproved contact lenses can lead to severe corneal burns and even loss of vision. In this case, the injury was in the outer part of the cornea and by providing the proper treatment, we were able to stop the injury from worsening. Both of them feel good and were discharged to their homes, with a recommendation for continued follow-up.

Or and Chen have a main message: “We want to thank the staff that treated us throughout our hospital stay, including the staff at the Educational Center in the Department of Pediatrics, which made our stay more pleasant through conversation, guided imagery and even arts and crafts. It’s important to us to increase the awareness of young people who order contact lenses from cheap websites overseas. Be sure that the contacts are approved for use by a certified body. We suffered from horrible pain and were barely able to sleep and function. It's not worth it. Now we feel much better, but still suffer from pain and eye sensitivity,” said the two girls.