Contact Lens Complications

Presentation

A patient who wears hard, impermeable, or rigid gas-permeable contact lenses comes to the emergency department in the early morning complaining of severe eye pain after they have left their lenses in for longer than the recommended time period. Extended-wear soft contact lenses can cause a similar syndrome when worn for days or weeks and have become contaminated with bacteria and/or irritants. The patient may not be able to open their eyes for examination because of pain and blepharospasm. They may have obvious corneal injury, with signs of iritis and conjunctivitis, or may have no findings visible without fluorescein staining.