A man from Shrewsbury, Shropshire is now blind in one eye, after wearing his contact lenses in the shower.
Nick Humphreys, 29, first noticed that something was wrong in January of 2018, when he noticed what appeared to be a scratch on his right eye. But as the week went on, it was clear that it was something more serious.
Humphreys visited an optician, who thought he had an ulcer on his eye and sent him to the hospital.
Doctors told him that he had Acanthamoeba keratitis, which is an infection of the cornea caused by a tiny organism called Acanthamoeba. That tiny organism is found in water.
The infection left Humphreys blind in his right eye by March of 2018. He has already had two operations and is now waiting to have a corneal transplant.
Humphreys says that he was unaware of the dangers of wearing contact lenses in the shower. His opticians never mentioned a risk, and there’s no warning on the packaging.
He is now working with the charity Fight for Sight to help raise awareness of the danger of wearing contact lenses while swimming or in the shower.
