Contact lens users should choose their cleansing solutions carefully and may need to take extra measures to kill organisms that can cause a rare eye illness, Austrian scientists say.
Professor Horst Aspock of the Clinical Institute of Hygiene, in Vienna, says that not all disinfectant cleaners can destroy the harmful bug Acanthamoeba, a cause of eye infection in contact lens users that can lead to keratitis, which can cause blindness.
People wearing soft contact lenses have the highest risk of getting the disease, says Professor Aspock.
He advises contact lens wearers to use a two-step hydrogen peroxide system because it can kill both life stages of the organism. Boiling and microwaving can also destroy the eye bug.
"The main message is to use a two-step system and to replace contact lens storage cases as frequently as possible," he says.
Acanthamoeba are found most commonly in soil and dust and in brackish water. The bug can enter the skin through a cut or wound, or the eye via a contact lens. Storage cases can be a breeding ground for the organisms.
In a study reported in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, Professor Aspock and his colleagues tested three types of disinfecting solutions - a multi-purpose and a one-step and two-step hydrogen peroxide system.
After eight hours, all the solutions had killed one life stage of Acanthamoeba, but the two-step solution was most effective in killing both.
- REUTERS
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Lens care vital to killing eye bug
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