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Comment by fastball | Hacker News Reader

Do you wear dailies or monthlies?

I've worn both, and whenever getting monthlies, my optometrist always told me not to get in the water with them/avoid getting water on them. In regards to dailies, it apparently shouldn't be an issue, as presumably if you get in the water with a daily, you'll probably be taking it out <12h later.

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But the sufferer in the article was using daily disposable lenses.

It does imply she was using them when she got the infection. However, it doesn't say anything about her usage habits. It's possible to misuse the disposable contacts. For example, by wearing them more than once or keeping them in too long. I wish it had gone further into that. I would very much like to know if it's possible to get this type of infection even if you only use them once a day and do all of the hygienic things you're supposed to do. I shower with my contacts pretty regularly. Showering without them actually kinda sucks. :(

Hello there, I'm the person in the piece, I hope you don't mind if I respond to your comment above- I wore dailies as per instructions, only single use and then I threw them away. I had worn lenses every day in the run up to the infection. I hadn't gone swimming in lenses in the previous months but I had occasionally showered in them. We don't know what caused my AK, but many patients have reported swimming or showering in lenses before getting the infection and there is a strong correlation. Epidemiological studies have proven the link between swimming in lenses and AK. Studies have also isolated the same exact genetic strain of acanthamoeba from patients' bathroom sinks and shower taps as the one found in their eyes. Showering is a risk factor for AK. If you want to know more please do go ahead and ask anything else.

Hi Irenie, awesome you've dropped in here!

As a long-time contact lens wearer who has at time been lax with hygiene best-practice (often I drop a lens in the basin, pick it our and rinse off with saline solution), I was a little alarmed after reading what you've been through.

Can you point me towards any further background reading or references on this topic?

I'd just like to say thank-you for writing about what happened to you. I am going to be much more careful about my contacts from now on. I also use dailies, never for > 24hrs. But I didn't dry my hands and used them in the shower occasionally. Not any more.

Thank you so much for clarifying! I really appreciate it. This is all pretty shocking to me. I'm gonna have to get used to my blurry showers again. :(

I knew it was very bad to shower with contacts on but I figured the daily ones would be no big deal.

I was under the impression that dailies were an elaborate scam, as they were identical to monthly contacts except for price. Have been wearing my dailies as monthlies but maybe I should research this a little bit more.

Dailies are prone to tearing if used multiple times.

I doubt this, dailies are very noticeably thinner and less rigid than monthlies.

You are contributing to the plastic pollution problem by wearing dailies. Your contact lenses are going to end up in our water streams and nature areas. Yet another reason not do use dailies, or contact lenses at all.

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