Compensation for eye infection caused by lenses ?

sweetstudent

I would tend to agree, with the previous two posters, i wear contact lenses for the last several years and never once has any issues. That is because i use the correct cleaning method, and even switched to the peroxide based cleaning solution on the recomendation of a contact lens specalist. Even when he said to leave it in the pot for >6 hours, i once did not leave it in for long enought and it caused my eye to sting a little - should i have blamed the optician?

if you do not follow the correct cleaning process then it will cause bacteria to grow on the lens and well you have only yourself to blame.

pendulum

Surely you were warned of the risks in the literature accompanying the products, which you read?

tidus

Answer this honestly.

If the optician had warned you that extended wear contact lenses had a slightly higher rate of complications than normal lens wear...

Would you have said - "ohh - I won't have them then, I'll stick with my last, less comfortable lenses.."

wannaberichbtch

The public view opticians in a similar way to a visit to their GP, and rely on their diagnosis and advise. Unfortunately many opticians operate in the same way as any other high street retailer with attitude to maximising profits, sometimes to the detriment of their clients.

Austinhead

Thankyou for such a lot of varied responses.

A few points to address I think.....

Tidus - I was never worned of the possibility of losing my sight, with the onset of a corneal ulcer there are warning signs, had I known then yes, i do believe I would have paid more attention. Who would risk it ??? As wannerberich states anyone that wears lenses can have occasion where they are uncomfortable.

Pendulum - My thoughts exactly, but the lenses come with absolutely NO documention at all.

Pinkshoes - Understand your point. I was told that this happens because your eye suffers a minor scratch (not necessarily due to lenses), under normal circumstances it heals no problem, or even with daily lenses it has chance to heal, but with extended wear lenses it doesn't get that chance. I religiously clean and look after my lenses, I followed all guidelines given to me to take them out every 4 days and leave them overnight in the correct fluid. At no point did any consultant I see make any suggestion that it was due to negligence on my part, and after listening to them, and reading reports online, it is well known that extended wear lenses are the cause, in most cases, or a corneal ulcer.

Advent - I did have all the checkups I was meant to have, as far as I know, but something like this flares up so quickly (less than 48hours in my case) that there are no signs earlier than that.

Tarja - It will be 2 years in Sept, I've been having proper scans at Liverpool and it's shown no improvement

Sarahh - Thanks for the guidance. I don't suppose you have any idea of the upfront costs ??. I've got 3 young kids so i'm not exactly flush lol.

dacouch

My dad had an ulcer on his eye and its not nice the doctor said its one of the worst things as they had to inject him in his eye, imagine a needle coming closer and closer to your eye and you cannot shut your eye. I felt so sorry for him

Austinhead

wannaberichbtch wrote: »

The public view opticians in a similar way to a visit to their GP, and rely on their diagnosis and advise. Unfortunately many opticians operate in the same way as any other high street retailer with attitude to maximising profits, sometimes to the detriment of their clients.

Agreed. If I was being prescribed medication from a GP I would expect information on possible side effects, and if I had massive problems with the medication which caused a week in hospital and had been given NO warning about it, then I suspect people would react very differently.

Austinhead

dacouch wrote: »

My dad had an ulcer on his eye and its not nice the doctor said its one of the worst things as they had to inject him in his eye, imagine a needle coming closer and closer to your eye and you cannot shut your eye. I felt so sorry for him

Not nice. I didn't have to have injections but I did have to have my eye scrapped with a scalpel to take samples. I thought I might faint.

Minxy_Bella

Firstly, my sympathies to go to the OP - having something wrong with your eyes is horrible and not a little bit frightening.

However, I wore extended wear contact lenses about 15 years ago and I must have been remiss in cleaning them as the optician told me that they had taken the top layer of skin off my eyeballs, so I had to rely on glasses for 6 months in order for it to heal.

I think it's a sign of the times that the OP is even thinking of making a compensation claim. It would never have occurred to me in the 80s - it was just one of those things and it made me a lot more careful about taking care of my eyes from then on.

MrsBartolozzi

When I started wearing the extended wear lenses (ciba night and day) 8 years ago I was told to take them out at night for cleaning and to give my eyes a rest every 7-10 days. I was also told to look at my eyes every morning and if there was any redness to remove the lenses. As with discomfort and any contact lenses it's only common sense to remove them!

The reason I stopped wearing them and changed to dailies was because I was told to remove them for 24 hours every week to give my eyes a rest, apparently new advice was to wear them less (this was maybe 3 years ago). I hate wearing specs, can't drive in them and I felt I couldn't do this so stopped wearing them.
While the OP has my every sympathies and I do hope they recover I feel that everyone should have some responsibility for their own body, were you never told to examine your eyes and any discomfort found was to be dealt with immediately?