A California ophthalmologist says that a patient who scheduled an appointment complaining of eye pain didn't show any apparent reasons during the initial exam. Then, after some prodding, a shocking surprise was revealed.
Dr. Katerina Kurteeva, an eye doctor in Southern California's Newport Beach, thought at first it might be because of a scratched cornea.
Kurteeva says she used an instrument called an eyelid speculum to keep the upper and lower eyelids open. She then asked the patient to look down to be able to see further.
The doctor noticed the edges of a couple of contact lenses that were stuck to each other under the eyelid.
The doctor asked if she could take some images and videos with her phone.
Kurteeva said contact lenses just started coming out in a chain and said she had never seen anything like it, Insiderreported.
'Dr Kurteeva said the woman had been wearing contact lenses for 30 years and believes it was a case of extreme oversight.'
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She said in nearly 20 years of practicing medicine, this was a shocking first for her.
The patient reported that she felt better almost immediately.
The contacts were discolored because of a solution the doctor used to stain the eyes to be able to see the clear lenses. She sent the patient home after receiving even more lenses after the first large collection of them.
Dr. Kurteeva flushed the patient's eye out with sterile water, removed mucous, and gave her anti-inflammatory drops.
Kurteeva laid out the lenses on a piece of tissue paper and was able to separate them, counting 23 contact lenses in all.
Experts say the patient was lucky because she could have lost her vision, scratched a cornea or gotten an infection.