| Date: |
6/9/2008 3:27:53 PM
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| Doctor: |
Don Williamson |
| Question: |
What are the chances of contracting acanthamoeba? Is it necessary to switch to daily contact lenses to minimize the risk? Chelsi
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| Answer: |
Chelsi
With proper handling, the risk of acanthamoeba is very small. As a rule it is found in contaminated water - hot tubs, pools, wells, creeks, lakes and etc.
Either daily lenses or using hydrogen peroxide will minimize the risk substantially.
It is a very rare bug - only 2 cases through our office in 28 years! Usually takes a comedy of errors - dirty lens, scratch on the eye, then exposure to the anacanthamoeba.
In a nutshell dailies by far and away are the best deffence, but Peroxide systems like Clear Care are fine too. Some Practitioners have their patients completely avoid wearing their lenses in water, personally I have not found the risk to be high enough to warrant that.
Thanks for your question...
Dr Don Williamson
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