Wednesday February 22, 2006
Sharp rise in eye infection cases
IT STARTED out as just a pain in his left eye, but within three weeks, Jermaine Tan, 19, needed a cornea transplant to save his sight.
The polytechnic student was one of 10 contact lens users diagnosed with a fungal infection last month, and one of 22 since May last year. This is much higher than the four to six cases a year, including foreign patients, all of whom are usually infected by an injury to the eye.
The director of the Singapore Eye Research Institute and deputy director of the Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC), Associate Professor Donald Tan, is puzzled by the spike in cases.
The Health Ministry on Monday said the 18 patients it had traced all used Bausch & Lomb’s ReNu multipurpose contact lens solution. They all wore disposable lenses, but they were from different companies and of various types, ranging from daily to monthly disposables.
Of those infected, 13 had used lenses beyond the recommended period, and 11 had slept with the lenses on.
Jermaine, however, had done everything by the book. The third-year Temasek Polytechnic tourism management student said he had been “diligent” in his eye and lens care since switching from spectacles to contact lenses three years ago.
He saw a doctor immediately when he felt a sharp pain in his left eye last month. He was given some eye cream but it did not ease the pain.
So he went to another doctor, who said it was serious and sent him to Changi General Hospital. There, he was given two types of eye drops to apply every half hour.
He was referred to the SNEC when tests confirmed he had a fungal infection. Despite eye drops as well as oral and intravenous medication, his eyesight worsened and only a transplant could save his sight.
“We were in the nick of time with Jermaine,” Prof Tan said.
“The fungi had almost eaten all the way through the cornea. One more day and it could have been too late.”
If Jermaine had not been treated in time, doctors would have had to remove his entire eye to save his life.
For Jermaine, he has recovered about 60% of the sight in his left eye, but his vision remains blurry. – The Straits Times / Asia News Network
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