Jessica Greaney, 18, an English student at the University of Nottingham believed she had an eye infection - but within a week her eye was red and had swollen to the size of a golf ball.
The student was nearly left blind when a parasite burrowed into her eye and began eating her cornea from the inside out.
She was admitted to hospital where doctors told her she the parasite Acanthamoeba Keratitis was burrowing into her eyeball and could leave her blind.
Her Doctor told her that the parasite can even cause death as it eats its way through the eye and into the spinal cord.
So as to pause the fast destruction the parasite was causing in Jessica's eye, she was forced to go without sleep for a week, She is pictured in hospital with an enlarged eyeball
Doctors said Miss Greaney had caught the parasite Acanthamoeba Keratitis from splashing water on her contact lenses. It caused her eyelid to droop and her eye to swell and turn red.
She received eyedrops every ten minutes to kill the parasite , leaving her unable to sleep for seven days straight.
She was at first mis-diagonised to have an ulcer, But, by the end of the week, her eye were bulging, and it looked like a huge red golf ball.
She said, her eyes were swollen, and extremely painful, and they admitted her into the hospital. Doctors clamped open her eye and scraped off a layer with a scalpel - which was then sent away for testing.
Miss Greaney was told she had the parasite - Acanthamoeba Keratitis — found in almost all soil, fresh water and sea water. THE DEADLY PARASITE THAT CAN CAUSE BLINDNESS
The condition is picked up when lenses are exposed to Amoeba, if they are washed in water, worn for too long or in the shower or put on without washing the handles.
Acanthamoeba are naturally occurring amoeba, or tiny, one-cell animals, found in tap water, well water, and soil and sewage systems.
If noticed early, it can be treated but an infection can badly scar the eye and a third of sufferers need a corneal transplant.
It thrives well where limescale and bacteria are present, but contact lens wearers are at highest risk if they clean their lenses or lens cases in tap water, or if they swim, shower or bathe while wearing their lenses.
This means the parasite can become trapped between the lens and the eye, allowing it to burrow into the eyeball.
Even when she was discharged from hospital, she still had to continue taking 21 droplets a day, until eventually the swelling and redness subsided.
Miss Greaney has been wearing contact lenses for just two years, and had no idea that she could contract an eye parasite from normal water.
The student was nearly left blind when a parasite burrowed into her eye and began eating her cornea from the inside out.
She was admitted to hospital where doctors told her she the parasite Acanthamoeba Keratitis was burrowing into her eyeball and could leave her blind.
Her Doctor told her that the parasite can even cause death as it eats its way through the eye and into the spinal cord.
So as to pause the fast destruction the parasite was causing in Jessica's eye, she was forced to go without sleep for a week, She is pictured in hospital with an enlarged eyeball
Doctors said Miss Greaney had caught the parasite Acanthamoeba Keratitis from splashing water on her contact lenses. It caused her eyelid to droop and her eye to swell and turn red.
She received eyedrops every ten minutes to kill the parasite , leaving her unable to sleep for seven days straight.
She was at first mis-diagonised to have an ulcer, But, by the end of the week, her eye were bulging, and it looked like a huge red golf ball.
She said, her eyes were swollen, and extremely painful, and they admitted her into the hospital. Doctors clamped open her eye and scraped off a layer with a scalpel - which was then sent away for testing.
Miss Greaney was told she had the parasite - Acanthamoeba Keratitis — found in almost all soil, fresh water and sea water. THE DEADLY PARASITE THAT CAN CAUSE BLINDNESS
The condition is picked up when lenses are exposed to Amoeba, if they are washed in water, worn for too long or in the shower or put on without washing the handles.
Acanthamoeba are naturally occurring amoeba, or tiny, one-cell animals, found in tap water, well water, and soil and sewage systems.
If noticed early, it can be treated but an infection can badly scar the eye and a third of sufferers need a corneal transplant.
It thrives well where limescale and bacteria are present, but contact lens wearers are at highest risk if they clean their lenses or lens cases in tap water, or if they swim, shower or bathe while wearing their lenses.
This means the parasite can become trapped between the lens and the eye, allowing it to burrow into the eyeball.
Even when she was discharged from hospital, she still had to continue taking 21 droplets a day, until eventually the swelling and redness subsided.
Miss Greaney has been wearing contact lenses for just two years, and had no idea that she could contract an eye parasite from normal water.
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