Nurse's Contact Lens Warning After Bad Habit Leaves Her Blind in One Eye
A healthcare professional from Essex has issued a stark warning to contact lens wearers after developing a dangerous habit that left her temporarily blind in one eye.
From Convenience to Crisis
Katie Carrington, a 36-year-old nurse and mother-of-four from Romford, Essex, began wearing daily disposable contact lenses at age 17 after disliking how she looked in glasses. What started as occasional overnight wear after social events gradually escalated into a hazardous routine.
"I was really stupid - I misused my contact lenses," Katie admits. "At first, I would go to parties and not take them out at night, but then I started wearing them for excessive amounts of time."
The situation deteriorated until she was wearing the same daily lenses for one to two weeks at a time, only changing them when her eyes became uncomfortably dry. She attributes this risky behaviour to convenience and her poor eyesight, explaining she hated waking up unable to see.
The Night Everything Changed
In August 2025, Katie's dangerous habit culminated in a medical emergency. While lying in bed one evening, her eyes began throbbing painfully and streaming with tears. She removed her lenses but the discomfort persisted throughout the night.
"The next morning, I woke up in unbearable pain - it was worse than giving birth," she recalls. "I couldn't see at all in my right eye."
Describing the sensation as feeling "stabbed in the eye," Katie wrapped a scarf around her head and asked her husband to drive her to Moorfields Eye Hospital in London. Medical staff there performed what she called a "traumatic" procedure, scraping her eyeballs to test for microorganisms.
Medical Diagnosis and Treatment
Doctors determined that bacteria had become trapped behind her contact lenses, causing a severe infection that resulted in complete vision loss in her right eye. They were uncertain whether her sight would return.
Katie was fitted with an eyepatch and prescribed an intensive treatment regimen requiring hourly eye drops, including throughout the night. She attended weekly appointments at Moorfields to monitor her progress and took four weeks off work to recuperate.
The psychological impact was profound. "I was so depressed, thinking I wouldn't get to see my kids growing up," she shares. "Even though it was just one eye, I felt like all my independence had been taken away from me."
Daily Struggles and Recovery
Simple tasks became extraordinarily challenging during her recovery period. Preparing bottles for her baby resulted in spills, and kitchen activities required intense concentration. She contemplated leaving her nursing job as she couldn't drive safely and worried about adapting to partial sight.
"Daily tasks became so hard," Katie explains. "When I was making a bottle for my baby I would spill it everywhere and I had to focus so hard to cut things up in the kitchen."
After five anxious weeks, Katie's vision gradually returned to normal. While medical professionals have told her she could safely wear contact lenses again, she has decided against it.
"Thank the Lord I can see again, but I will never wear contacts again," she states firmly. "It was my fault and I take full accountability, but I didn't know the risks associated with them."
A Warning to Others
Katie now hopes her experience will serve as a cautionary tale for other contact lens wearers. She urges people to educate themselves about proper lens hygiene and the dangers of extended wear.
"I urge contact lens wearers to read up about the risks," she advises. "I thought it would never happen to me, because I got away with it for so long, but now I'm focused on looking after myself."
Reflecting on her ordeal, Katie concludes: "If one person learns from this that you shouldn't leave contact lenses in, then I feel like I've made a difference."
Her story serves as a powerful reminder that even healthcare professionals can develop dangerous habits when it comes to personal health practices, and that convenience should never override safety when it comes to eye care.
