**Warning, pictures of my eye are shown further down**

As some already know, I suffered eye damage this past week that has basically had me sitting in a dark room studying the insides of my eyelids. As I write this my eyes are still recovering and I am only able to keep them open for brief periods of time. But, this message is far too important to wait though, so I must apologize in advance if it seems a bit discombobulated as you read it.

It all started last Wednesday (the 7th) I was coaching a little league game when I noticed everything was a bit hazy. It felt as though I had stepped into a fog bank and I was looking at the world through a white film. A bit concerning to say the least. I brushed it off to something being on my contact lenses and that as soon as the game was over I’d rush home and take them out. Soon enough, the game ended we all high-fived, said our “good games” and enjoyed the customary Popsicle. We drove home and I rushed to take out my contacts, sure that this would take care of my vision issues. I was mistaken. After taking out my contacts I still could see the white haze but also realized that all light sources also had halos around them.

We had company over and talking to my friends they assured me it was nothing to worry about, probably sinus pressure or tired. I did agree that being tired probably was the case and I took my leave to bed early. The next morning my vision was still blurry, I went in to work but also called my eye Dr to set up an appointment. By 8:30 I was at the clinic and having my eyes checked out something definitely was not right.

During the examination the Dr put stain in my eyes that would show any scratched or damage to my eyes, the entire surface of my right cornea lit up and about a third of the left cornea. I was told that my corneas were covered in serrations, the same size as my contacts. It looked like a chemical burn on my corneas, but how? Well, I have been using Clear Care overnight contact cleaner for the past few months. Its a hydrogen peroxide type cleaner that uses a special case. When used in the case the cleaner does its job and then deactivates within 6 hours and the contacts are safe to use again. I hadn’t had an issue until now. As far as we can tell, the cleaner did not deactivate fully the last time I used it. It was deactivated enough that it didn’t burn when I put them in but instead damaged my eye over the course of the day.

I was sent home from the Dr’s office with prednisone eye drops and directions to rest my eyes. By late afternoon I was in so much pain that it took all my will not to scream out. I had also lost all of my vision by this time. My husband rushed me to the Emergency Room where I was given 2 shots of a pain killer that did nothing to ease the pain. They told me it was seven times stronger than morphine, I was seriously doubting that claim at the time. They instilled numbing drops into my eyes so that they could pry them open and get a basic vision test done. No surprise, I couldn’t see anything. They stained my eyes again and confirmed that they were, of course, covered in serrations. Not much could be done. The worst of my eyes was patched and I was sent home with more pain killers to knock me out until morning.

Actual pictures of my eye after the jump.

The pictures below were taken in the emergency room. The green “smudges” on my eye are tiny serrations, pits and abrasions on my cornea. I’ve circled the affected areas in pink to show where my cornea blistered up and then sluffed off.

Friday morning I was still blind, and in pain. My eye Dr called me and asked me to see her that morning. I arranged for my mother in law to pick me up and drive me while my husband watched the kids. She drove me in and spent most of Friday leading me around by the hand. Again, not much that could be done except stain my eyes and check the progress. The Dr said that my corneas had blistered up and the outer layer had then sluffed off. This left my corneas as open sores. She put antibiotic ointment in them and patched my right eye up. I was then sent to another clinic to get a “contact bandage” inserted into my left eye. Apparently this helps promote healing by protecting my cornea. I was given more eye drops and pain killers to take home and that’s where I spent the rest of Friday and all of Saturday in the dark, unable to see.

Today is Sunday and I’m slowly gaining use of my eyes again. My muscles don’t want to cooperate, I’m extremely light sensitive and I can only keep my eyes open for short periods of time. I am relying on my husband and children for pretty much everything. Even to write this I have the monitor dimmed way down and am squinting with one eye, but I have to get my story out there so others using Clear Care can read this and know what can happen. I hope that those who read this will pass it on to contact lens wearers they know so that this doesn’t have to happen to someone else.

I go back to the Dr on Monday to find out exactly how much of my eyes have healed and possibly how much longer I have to wait for clear vision to return. Hopefully there will be no permanent damage or loss, I’m told that I will most likely make a full recovery. Albeit its been a very painful one.

Because of this injury you can probably imagine that I have not been able to fully answer emails yet or do much work, please be patient with me over the next few days as I sort through things and get back into action. I also missed work at my out of home job as well. I am unsure of when I’ll be able to return there, it depends on when I can safely drive. Please check back or pass along my information to those you know that are looking for web design work. I will be having some sales and specials on services when I fully recover to help cover the lost income and expenses that come along with injuries of this sort.

I want to thank everyone for their patience and support and hope to be back designing within a few days. If you know someone that uses Clear Care contact cleaner please please please let them know about what happened to me, I would never want someone to go through the pain and uncertainty that I have been through the past few days.