A woman in the US lost the vision in one eye due to a rare parasitic infection that developed after she went swimming while wearing contact lenses. Brooklyn McCasland, 23, was on a trip to Alabama with friends in August when she became infected with the parasite Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK) — an amoeba that can damage the cornea and cause vision loss. “This infection mimics other common infections, so at that time I was given steroids and some other drops,” Ms McCasland said on a GoFundMe page set up to help pay her medical bills.
Ms McCasland said the rare infection was made worse by delays in diagnosing it. “I was in the most pain I had ever been in and eventually my right eye went completely blind,” she said.
The 23-year-old said she was seeing an eye doctor every two days and was referred to different eye specialists as she sought answers about the pain and vision loss. When she got her results back, which confirmed she had AK, she said she was told she could potentially go permanently blind or lose her eye if she didn’t start treatment right away.
“Because this infection is so rare, the drops used for treatment are only made in the UK. Luckily, the doctor’s office in Dallas had some samples so I could start treatment as soon as possible,” Ms McCasland said. Said.
Ms McCasland needs to put drops in her eyes every 30 minutes because “it’s a very slow healing process”. “I’m grateful that we know exactly what it is and I’m able to start the right treatment,” he said. “If I had known that I could have avoided all this pain by not swimming with my contacts in, I never would have done it.”
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according to cleveland clinicAcanthamoeba keratitis infection is rare, with an estimated 1,500 infections occurring annually in the US, however, 90% of those cases occur in contact lens wearers. The Clinic states that wearing contacts for too long, storing or cleaning them improperly, and wearing them while swimming or bathing can increase the risk of parasite infection.
For Ms McCasland, her struggle is far from over as she shared in an update that a recent visit to the doctor confirmed that the infection was “not looking a whole lot worse but not any better than last time either”. . “It’s likely that I will need to have a cornea transplant once I get rid of the infection. It may take months but I’m grateful that we know exactly what it is. I hope my journey will help someone else going through this.” This will help prevent that,” McCasland said.
