Woman left 'almost completely blind' in one eye after making common contact lens mistake
A woman made an easy mistake with her contact lenses and is losing her eyesight as a result.
Millions of people across the globe are contact lens-wearers, and there's a good chance at once they've done what Maureen Cronin did, that ended up with her being diagnosed with a rare infection.
Tragedy struck for Maureen in August last year as she was hospitalized at Stony Brook University Hospital in New York, US.
The 53-year-old ended up needing a cornea transplant in September 2024, but her eye rejected the transplant.
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Maureen claims the steroid drops prescribed to help the pain have caused her to develop glaucoma. As a result, she's now almost completely blind in her right eye and is waiting to undergo another cornea transplant to hopefully restore some of her sight.
As to what caused the infection, it all comes down to Maureen wearing her lenses in a swimming pool.
Maureen began offering swimming lessons to young children in their private backyard pools in June last year, but after teaching seven children while wearing her contact lenses in the water, she claims that her right eye started to irritate her.
Maureen, who has worn contact lenses for almost 20 years, said it felt like she had a grain of sand stuck in her eye and when the pain became 'excruciating' she visited an eye doctor who prescribed her eye drops.
The eye drops didn't help, however, and eventually she was diagnosed with acanthamoeba keratitis (AK). According to Cleveland Clinic, AK is 'a rare parasitic eye infection from a certain type of amoeba'.
It goes on: "It affects the cornea, the clear, dome-shaped front covering of your eye. When not treated, it can damage your eyes and cause loss of sight."
Maureen has now been raising awareness about her AK diagnosis in a bid to warn others about wearing contact lenses around water to stop this from happening to them.
"I am hopeful but fearful at the same time [about the next cornea transplant]. I'm afraid it won't take. It feels like it's never ending and I'm nervous," she said.
"AK is not well known and it is often misdiagnosed. I would say anyone who wears contact lenses shouldn't wear them near any body of water."
Maureen admitted: "I now have a fear of being near any kind of water. I shower with my goggles on.
"My eye is cloudy because of the cataract and the pupil is large. It's off putting because the pupil is so big and it looks cloudy."
She went on: "If you treat it early, you can kill the parasite and you don't have to go through the hospital and surgery process.
"I was not aware at all, I was never told by my optician to never wear them in water."
Niamh Shackleton