Contact lenses and chemo

Hi , different hospitals might say different but I was told not to wear contacts as if your eyes are dry you are more at risk of damaging them, and also risk of infection xxx

Heard of someone here awhile back had their 'daily' lens actually stick to a dry eye and had to have it removed by the hospital opthamology dept (sounds painful ?)

Sounds like Cheeboe got the advice you should have had

G n' J

Interesting I mentioned my contact lens issues to my unit but they didn’t mention anything about not wearing them, I’ll ask again!

Hi

I finished my chemo treatment in November (2 cycles of EC followed by four cycles of docetaxel, herceptin and perjeta) and wore my contact lenses throughout.  I had no option, as I don’t have any glasses because I have a severe degree of astigmatism (plus myopia) which can only be corrected properly with contact lenses.  My lenses are multifocal gas permeable. I found that I did have a few eye problems while on chemo (watery eyes and smudgy lenses), and that I couldn’t wear my lenses are long as I normally would (16 hours a day) as my eyes became sore after about 12 hours of wear.  I got some eye drops from my optometrist to help lubricate the eye while the lenses were in, and this worked quite well.  Otherwise I just took my lenses out for a bit if my eyes became dry and sore, and bathed my eyes with cool water in an eye bath (which helped quite a lot).  Although I still don’t have much in the way of eyelashes, as the docetaxel knocked them out and the new ones are just beginning to grow back, I have found that my eyes have got better since chemo ended, and I don’t have the smudged/greasy lens problem any more. 

One problem I have had with my lenses was during my recent surgery at the start of January.  The hospital were very accommodating in allowing me to wear them right up to before the op, and to take them out in the anaesthetics room.  They also gave them back to me straight after the surgery.  I put them in OK after the op although my eyes were a bit dry, and took them out OK that night in the hospital.  Unfortunately the next morning, after I had put them in again, the left one suddenly dropped out of my eye, which was very dry.   You can imagine what happened next - I couldn’t really get down on the floor to look for the lens, as I had just had a mastectomy and ANC, and was attached to a drain.  So everyone else on the ward who was mobile was on their hands and knees trying to find it, sadly without success.  I know that my eyes have changed during the chemo and I was due to get a new pair of lenses soon anyway, so I have booked an eye test for March and will get a new pair then (am using a replacement left one from a previous pair for now).  I guess though that what happened to me might be a warning not to try to use your contact lenses too soon after the op.  The nurse told me that the general anaesthetic can affect your eyes a bit, and I wish I had known that beforehand.  

I hope that you can get some relief from the dry eye problem, and good luck with the rest of your chemo treatment.

Blackcat xx