A mother of three has been left with potentially permanent sight loss in one eye after contracting an infection from a rare parasite in her cornea – an incident she puts down to wearing contact lenses in water.
Emma Marsden, 47, from Lancashire, had been mucking out horses in February when she fell into a wheelbarrow filled with dirt and water.
Despite washing her face to remove the mud, she didn’t remove her contact lenses until later that evening.
Four days later, Ms Marsden began experiencing severe pain in her right eye, prompting a visit to her GP, who referred her to hospital.
Ms Marsden experienced a rapid onslaught of symptoms
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With initial tests returning clear results, Ms Marsden was discharged with eye drops after doctors concluded the problem was an eye ulcer.
But the pain continued to intensify over the following days, and she eventually lost vision in the affected eye.
A hospital consultant later diagnosed acanthamoeba keratitis, where a parasite burrows into the cornea. Ms Marsden was also subsequently diagnosed with the fungal infection Fusarium keratitis and corneal ulcers.
Doctors believe the infection was likely contracted when she washed her face while wearing her lenses, as the parasite responsible is typically found in tap water.
Eventually, the infection perforated Ms Marsden’s cornea, leading surgeons to stitch the eyelids shut to help with recovery.
She has since been told she may need a cornea transplant in the future and may completely lose sight in the affected eye.
She described the pain as more severe than childbirth and was forced to spend almost three and a half weeks in darkened rooms.
Now, she attends weekly hospital appointments and applies eye drops every two hours.
In a recent clip, Ms Marsden urged others to take greater care when using contact lenses, particularly when showering and swimming.
Though opticians routinely warn against contact lenses during such activities, the risks of washing one’s face are less widely understood.
The 47-year-old continues to wear a lens in her unaffected eye
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“You don’t think about the knock-on effect,” Ms Marsden said.
She continues to wear a lens in her unaffected eye, noting that it was not the lens itself but a lack of awareness about care that led to the infection.
