Misuse of contact lenses can lead to loss of sight – Stylist

Lagos – Kemi Adetutu, a stylist at Goodlooks Beauty Place, Bariga, on Saturday said that the misuse of contact lenses could lead to complications and loss of sight.

Adetutu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that contact lenses had better peripheral vision than spectacles; but opticians should be consulted before use.

“People wear contact lens for corrective treatment and mostly aesthetic purposes because, over 90 per cent of the people I fix it for, do it for beauty.

“Most people that wear contacts for aesthetics hardly consult opticians, and that is very dangerous.



“You must see an optician before using contact lenses if you really have to avert complications,’’ she said.

Temitope Lawal, a contact lens user, said: “I wear contact lens because it is trendy and makes me look very attractive.

“Though the application feels scary when trying it out, but I really love to wear them because it gives me a feeling of total beauty when I put them on,’’ Lawal said.

The 200-level student of Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye, Ogun, said that her contact lens had helped in keeping her eye defects a secret.

“I started using contact lens when I was in senior secondary school.

“I use to wear very thick medicated glasses and my classmates picked only on my glasses when we had any arguments.

“But today, people hardly know the extent of my eye defect, since I am wearing a contact lens that is just on my cornea,’’ she said.

Chidinma Okole, a banker with eye defects, said: “I have used contact lens some years back, and I discovered I could not continue with it.

“The use of contact lens requires time, patience and proper care or else, you could have serious problems. So, I decided to go back to my spectacles,’’ he said.

Elizabeth Alozie, a Lagos- based optician, said that the medical implications of the use of contact lens could result in contact lens associated red eyes, which might lead to blindness.

“Every wearer of contact must get in touch with an optician for prescription on usage and when they do, opticians give proper directives on how these lenses are used.

“Some of these lenses are to be used as daily wear or extended wear; and when these directives are not adhered to, complications arise.

“Improper use of lenses and poor lens care can result in infections by microorganisms, which can affect various layers of the cornea and cause permanent damage to the eye, or loss of sight,’’ Alozie warned.(NAN)