Man In US Loses Eye To Flesh-Eating Bacteria After Falling Asleep With Contact Lenses On

Man Falls Asleep With Contact Lenses On, Loses Vision In One Eye To Bacteria

One man in Florida, United States (US), experienced a nightmarish ordeal that caused him to go partially blind.

In an incident akin to gory alien horror films, Michael Krumholz lost his left eye to flesh-eating bacteria.

Source: Mike Krumholz on Facebook

The 21-year-old student suffered a bacterial infection in his eye after failing to remove his contact lens before sleeping.

Experienced discomfort in left eye after taking a nap with contacts

According to Daily Mail, it all began on 19 Dec 2022.

Mr Krumholz had taken a 40-minute nap without removing his contact lenses. Upon waking up, he experienced distorted vision in his left eye.

He also observed that the same eye was bloodshot.

At the time, he thought nothing of it and just removed the contact lenses for good measure.

Eye doctors baffled by condition

Unfortunately for Mr Krumholz, his ordeal did not end there.

The next morning, he tried putting on his contact lenses as normal but immediately took them out when he sensed something amiss, he told the Daily Star. He promptly visited the doctor.

The first doctor suspected that Mr Krumholz had herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and referred him to an eye specialist.

According to the Daily Star, he eventually visited five ophthalmologists and two cornea specialists.

They all agreed with the preliminary diagnosis that Mr Krumholz had HSV-1 and treated him as such with steroids and antibiotics.

Unfortunately, the steroids made his condition worse.

Source: Mike Krumholz on Daily Star

On 21 Jan 2023, a horrifying new diagnosis revealed that he had been infected with Acanthamoeba Keratitis (AK).

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), AK is an uncommon infection caused by a parasite that can result in serious and permanent damage to the eye. The steroids had thus apparently sped up the rate at which the parasite was spreading.

Required surgery after bacteria ate his eye

Mr Krumholz shared with the Daily Star that he had never experienced such excruciating pain before.

He described it as being in “constant shock” and that the pain started from the back of his eye and travelled up from the back of his head to the front.

Following the proper diagnosis, he went through photodynamic therapy with conjunctival flap surgery.

Source: Mike Krumholz on Facebook

Despite the first surgery, he still has not regained vision in his left eye. Purportedly, the parasite had already eaten away at most of his pupil.

According to a TikTok video posted by Mr Krumholz, he had a successful corneal transplant about a week ago.

Uses TikTok to raise awareness

Although he is now partially blind and has photosensitivity, Mr Krumholz decided to turn the ordeal into a learning experience for others.

In a series of graphic but informative videos on his Tiktok account, he raises awareness about his diagnosis.

He now has over 26,000 followers on the platform after documenting his surgery process.

Kudos to Mr Krumholz for his efforts and we wish him a speedy recovery.

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Featured image adapted from @mikekrumholz13 on Tiktok and Mike Krumholz on Daily Star.