Contact Lens Corneal Infiltrates: A Blinding Condition

Contact lens corneal infiltrates is a rare condition that occurs in certain wearers who have troubles with their eyes. The trouble could be either caused through dry eye or other medical illnesses, such as arthritis or a pre-diagnosed eye condition. Infiltrates often appear as small white bumps or dots within the cornea, visible to the naked eye or in a mirror, and results from wearing contacts too long in many cases. The contact rubs against the cornea, thus causing friction, which might develop into a sort of bump or lump that will not go away. Eventually, the condition leads to irritation, dry eye and other pains, as it spreads. For the most part, these lesions are a trapping of bacteria that grows on the cornea and can be treated with an antibiotic prescription from your optometrist.

If you ignore the irritation and continue to wear contacts for long periods of time, against the advisement of your optometrist or instructions on the contacts package, you may require surgery to remove the bacteria once it has become a full-blown infection. In these cases, this problem can cause vision loss, abnormal reshaping of the cornea, which will distort vision, and if it infects enough of the cornea, it can spread to other areas of the ocular nerves which can cause further damage to your body, including your brain which has a direct connection with those nerves.

This condition needs to be treated as soon as possible, which is why contact wearers should never be afraid to call their optometrist and alert them to pain or discomfort and also why they should always follow instructions for wearing their contact lenses.