A new study has found that people who wear reusable contact lenses are four times more likely to develop a rare eye infection that can affect their vision.
The research conducted by British scientists warned that wearing contact lenses while bathing, swimming, and sleeping also increases the aforementioned risks.
In the study, researchers looked at 200 people who wore contact lenses daily or wore reusable lenses and went to a clinic for an eye infection or other illness.
Acanthamoeba keratitis was diagnosed in these individuals. This infection causes inflammation of the surface of the eye and can cause vision loss. This condition was more common in people who used the same lenses repeatedly.
The infection starts when microorganisms get on the contact lenses through contaminated solutions or dirty hands and then enter the eyes through fine tears.
In this condition, the patient experiences eye pain, redness, blurred vision, presence of spots on the eyes and when the case is severe, loss of vision.
Treatment for this condition involves antiseptics applied directly to the surface of the eye and may last from six months to a year.
Professor John Dart, an ophthalmologist and head of research at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, said the condition has seen an increase in recent years, but the infection is still rare and preventable.
