Twenty-seven overlapping contact lenses inserted in an eye of a woman were discovered by surgeons while getting ready for her cataract surgical procedure.
The woman, 67, had been wearing disposable for around 35 years. She complained discomfort in her eyes which she initially believed was due to dry eyes and aging.
It happened during a checkup at Solihull Hospital, and by Rupal Morjaria, a specialist trainee ophthalmologist.
Her team initially discovered 17 contact lenses. After a second inspection, they found 10 more.
The operating team, including an ophthalmologist with over 20 years of experience, was shocked by the discovery.
After the shocking discovery, the eye surgery was postponed to prevent the risk of getting endophthalmitis, a serious eye inflammation due to the unknown length of time the lenses were harbored in her eye.
She had been wearing monthly disposable contact lenses for almost four decades but admitted she does not attend regular appointments.
Nowadays, when you can just easily buy contact lenses online, people become careless about getting regular check ups from an ophthalmologist.
The patient had not complained any symptoms associated with the abandoned lenses. However, she said her eye feels more pleasant following the withdrawal of the painful lump of contact lenses.
Many people wear contact lenses regularly. However, not monitoring it properly can cause people with severe eye complications to lose their sight.
The incident, which happened in November 2016, was originally reported in the BMJ but has not been released since doctors involved did not initially believe that having so many contact lenses left in an eye is possible.
