Severe corneal infections induced by contact lens wearing
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31288/oftalmolzh201663842Keywords:
contact lenses, infectious corneal inflammations, treatmentAbstract
Background. Over the recent years, a lot of authors have noticed changes in risk factors of microbial keratitis development as well as in variety of agents inducing them. Soft contact lens wearing has been reported to be the leading risk factor for infectious keratitis.
Purpose. To analyze cases of severe infectious inflammations in the cornea which are associated with contact lens wearing.
Materials and methods. We followed up 60 patients (64 eyes) with severe infectious corneal inflammations aged 15 to 63 y/o (М=35.3±SD20.3) who used contact lenses to correct myopia and hypermetropia. CLs were used to correct mild myopia in 10 patients; moderate myopia in 27 patients; and high myopia (6.5D – 20.0D) in 20 patients. Three patients used CLs to correct mild hypermetropia. There were deep stromal keratitides in 16 eyes; corneal ulcers in 34 eyes (including with stromal melting and corneal perforation, 14 and 6 eyes, respectively); corneal abscess-complicated ulcers in 4 eyes; anterior endophthalmitis in 10 eyes. The process was bilateral in four patients. CLs had been used for 0.5 to 44 years (М=9.41±SD7.33). Prior to admission to the Filatov Institute, the patients had received community-based care for 1 to 75 days (M= 21.6±SD19.64).
Result. Inflammation was managed and the eye as an organ was preserved in 98.5% of cases (63 yes). Evisceration was performed in one eye. Prospects for surgery with optic purpose were preserved in 54 patients (84.3%).
Conclusions. CL users should be dispensary observed as well as be informed of possible infection complications when wearing CL and follow CL using and storage regulations. Once complaints appear it is necessary to attend an ophthalmologist. When infection complications are diagnosed, patients should be immediately referred to a specialized medical institution of a higher level.
References
1. Egorova GB. Optimization of contact correction of primary and secondary ametropy. Thesis for Dr. Sc. (Med.). M.; 2005. Russian.
2. Kivaiev AA, Shapiro EI. Contact correction of the vision. M.; 2000. Russian.
3. Amescua G, Miller D, Alfonso EC. What is causing the corneal ulcer? Management strategies for unresponsive corneal ulceration. Eye (Lond). 2012;26:228-236. https://doi.org/10.1038/eye.2011.316
4. Bohm MR, Prokosch V, Merte RL et al. Mikrobiologishe analyse in kontaktlinsen - assoziierte keratits. Klin Monatsbl Augenheilkd. 2011;228:808-814.https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0029-1245840
5. Carnt N, Keay L, Naduvilath T, Holden BA, Willcox MDP. Risk factors associated with corneal inflammation in contact lens wear. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2007;48:E-Abstract 4326.
6. Cavanagh HD, Robertson DM, Petroll WM, Jester JV. Castroviejo Lecture 2009: 40 years in search of the perfect contact lens. Cornea. 2010;29(10):1075-85.https://doi.org/10.1097/ICO.0b013e3181d103bb
7. Cheng KH, Leung SL, Hoekman HW et al. Incidence of contact-lens-associated microbial keratitis and its related morbidity. Lancet. 1999;354(9174):181-5.https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(98)09385-4
8. Kramer A, Seitz B, Messmer EM. Infektiose keratitis - keimspektrum im wandel der zeit und aktuelle therapien. Ophthalmologe. DOI 10.1007/s00347-016-0324-7/ © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. 2016 DOG 2016. Berlin.
9. Morgan PB, Efron N, Hill EA, Raynor MK, Whiting MA, Tullo AB. Incidence of keratitis of varying severity among contact lens wearers. Br J Ophthalmol. 2005;89(4):430-6.https://doi.org/10.1136/bjo.2004.052688
10. Morgan PB. Contact lens compliance and reducing the risk of keratitis. Optician. 2007; 234:20-5.
11. Rachwalik D, Pleyer U. Bacterial Keratitis. Klin Monatsbl Augenheilkd. 2015;232:738-744.https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0035-1545994
12. Radford CF, Minassian DC, Dart JK. Disposable contact lens use as a risk factor for microbial keratitis. Br J Ophthalmol. 1998;82(11):1272-5.https://doi.org/10.1136/bjo.82.11.1272
13. Robertson DM, Cavanagh HD. The Clinical and Cellular Basis of Contact Lens-related Corneal Infections: A Review. Clin Ophthalmol. 2008;2(4):907-17.https://doi.org/10.2147/OPTH.S3249
14. Robertson DM, Petroll WM, Jester JV et al. The role of contact lens type, oxygen transmission, and care-related solutions in mediating epithelial homeostasis and pseudomonas binding to corneal cells: an overview. Eye Contact Lens. 2007;33: 394-8.https://doi.org/10.1097/ICL.0b013e318157e609
15. Robertson DM. The Effects of Silicone Hydrogel Lens Wear on the Corneal Epithelium and Risk for Microbial Keratitis. Eye Contact Lens. 2013, January; 39(1):67-72.https://doi.org/10.1097/ICL.0b013e31827c5b73
16. Stapleton F, Keay L, Jalbert I, Cole N. The epidemiology of contact lens related infiltrates. Optom Vis Sci. 2007;84(4):257-72.https://doi.org/10.1097/OPX.0b013e3180485d5f
17. Szczotka-Flynn L, Pearlman E, Ghannoum M. Microbial Contamination of Contact Lenses, Lens Care Solutions, and Their Accessories: A Literature Review. Eye Contact Lens. 2010;36(2):116-29.https://doi.org/10.1097/ICL.0b013e3181d20cae
18. Tariq F, Koay P. The Risk of Contact Lens Wear and the Avoidance of Complications. Int J Med Students. 2013;1(2):80-5.https://doi.org/10.5195/ijms.2013.209
19. Willcox M. Microbial adhesion to silicon hydrogel lenses: a review. Eye Contact Lenses. 2013;39:61-6.https://doi.org/10.1097/ICL.0b013e318275e284
20. Yildiz E, Airiani S, Hammersmith K et al. Trends in contact lens - related corneal ulcer at a tertiary referral center. Cornea. 2012;31:1097-102.https://doi.org/10.1097/ICO.0b013e318221cee0
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Г. И. Дрожжина, О. Н. Иванова, В. Л. Осташевский, Т. Б. Гайдамака, Е. В. Ивановская, Б. М. Коган, В. Я. Усов
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) that allows users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author as long as they cite the source.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Authors who publish in this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors hold copyright immediately after publication of their works and retain publishing rights without any restrictions.
- The copyright commencement date complies the publication date of the issue, where the article is included in.
DEPOSIT POLICY
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) during the editorial process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Post-print (post-refereeing manuscript version) and publisher's PDF-version self-archiving is allowed.
- Archiving the pre-print (pre-refereeing manuscript version) not allowed.
