Receptionist's warning after contact lens mistake leaves her 'blinded'

A receptionist has issued a warning to contact lens users after she was blinded for months after leaving them in while getting fake lashes fitted. Lillie Barrett, 22, began to experience an itchy left eye after treating herself to a set of £55 Russian lashes while wearing her contact lenses in November 2022.

The 20-year-old at the time said as her eye continued to water overnight she visited a chemist and was given eye drops to treat her pink eye. But two days later when her eye began to swell and yellow gunk started to build up on her cornea, Lillie claims she lost all vision in her left eye.

Horrifying footage shows Lillie's cornea turning a hazy grey as she claims she was left blind in this eye and not able to see in 3D out of the other. After starting to panic, Lillie was rushed to the emergency department at St Helier Hospital in Sutton, South London, where an eye specialist told her she had developed an ulcer on her cornea.

Although the consultant was unable to place a definite cause on her eye infection, Lillie now believes it was caused by bacteria coming into contact with her contact lens after having her lashes done. According to the NHS, a corneal ulcer is an open sore in the outer layer of the cornea that occurs when the surface is damaged and is said to be more common in contact lens wearers.

She is now warning other contact lens users to be careful when using monthly contact lenses and is urging people to switch to daily disposable ones as she claims they hold less risk of infection.

Lillie, from Welling in South East London, said: "Six hours after my appointment my eye started to react and it felt like something was scratching my eye so I took my contact lenses out and put my glasses on. Overnight my eye wouldn't stop watering and I thought it was just my allergies playing up or I had contracted conjunctivitis because I had been around kids recently.

"I went to a chemist the next day and they said it looked like it was conjunctivitis and gave me some eye drops and I began to use them. My eye kept watering and started swelling and became really red.”

She continued: "For about two days I left it as I just thought it was conjunctivitis as I had yellow bits in my eye. This then stopped coming out of my eye and became stuck on my cornea and by the second or third day I lost all my vision [in this eye].

"I was going to drive myself to the doctors but then realised I couldn't as I didn't have any 3D vision. Everything looked flat because I couldn't see out of this eye. At the hospital, they told me it was an ulcer on my cornea but they couldn't tell me the exact reason it happened.

"Someone in the eye department said to me I wasn't going to get my vision back unless I went through with surgery. I broke into tears as I was so shocked at what had happened. My left eye made my confidence go down a lot as people were looking at me strangely and I stopped going out as much as I used to as I was really upset about it.

"I used monthly contacts and apparently these can be more dangerous than daily contacts. After what happened, I still wear contacts but I have switched to daily contacts now.

She added: "I would say to people that they should switch to daily contacts and not use monthly ones as you don't have to clean them, you just put them in the bin after using them. It's not worth it after what I went through.

"I know the doctor couldn't confirm the exact cause of my infection but I do think it was caused by my contacts. If I was to give anyone some advice it would be to just be careful when wearing contacts and definitely go to the hospital sooner as I left it for two or three days before doing so."

After being prescribed eyedrops and pain relief, Lillie was discharged from hospital but had to return for check ups until May 2023. She claims her eye remained discoloured for six months and says her vision gradually started to return.

Despite this, Lillie claims she has still not fully regained sight in her left eye almost a year-and-a-half on from the infection. Lillie said: "My vision started to come back slowly after using the eyedrops and having hospital checkups. The colour of my eye was still really bad in January 2023 and you couldn't see the black part of my pupil. My eye was like this for roughly six or seven months.

“By April 2023 the colour of my eye had returned quite a lot. You can hardly notice it unless you look really closely. I can now see a lot more than I could but my vision is still bad. I can see shadows and people when they're in front of me but that is only if I close one eye. If both eyes are open it makes it harder to see."

Lillie says she has been offered surgery to help restore her vision but initially declined this after hearing about the risks that could come with the operation. But after recently posting about her lens horror on TikTok, she says she may reconsider going under the knife as other users shared the surgery success stories.

Lillie said: "The surgery was to help me regain some of my vision back by doing work on my cornea but I didn't take the surgery as they said there was a risk my eye could go back to square one again [and I had been making progress with my sight].

"Now I've seen people's comments on TikTok about how the surgery worked really well for them, I think I would consider getting it done to regain some more of my vision."