Doctor removed 23 contact lenses from patient's eye after she ‘forgot’ to take them out

Warning: This article contains graphic images that some readers may find distressing.

A doctor has shared a video on social media of her removing 23 contact lenses from a patient's eye and it's not for the faint-hearted.

Dr Katerina Kurteeva posted the viral video - which has been viewed more than a million times - on the California Eye Associates Instagram page back in 2022.

In the short clip, the ophthalmologist explained that the patient put in a new set of lenses every day for 23 days without taking the previous day's out.

The post's caption read: "A rare occasion when someone 'forgot' to remove contact lenses at night and kept on putting a new one in every morning. 23 days in a row!!! I got to deliver the contact lens bunch yesterday in my clinic.

"I have carefully separated all the contact lenses and counted total of 23. I had to use very fine surgical instrument a jeweller forceps to separate contact lenses. They were essentially glued together after sitting under the eyelid for a month."

In an interview with Insider, she explained that the woman had come in to her practice complaining of pain, but she couldn't find anything during an initial exam.

But, after using an eyelid speculum to keep her upper and lower lids open and getting the patient to look down, Kurteeva could see the edges of multiple contact lenses stuck to each other.

She then gently teased the lenses from underneath the woman's eyelid with a cotton wool bud as shown in the toe-curling social media clip.

Dr Kurteeva said: "They were coming out in a chain, drooping down her lid. There were a lot of contact lenses - I thought this could be my Guinness Book of World Records moment.

"In nearly 20 years of practice, I had never seen anything like it. The patient couldn't believe it either and asked if I was sure about the number I was counting."

Following the lenses' removal, the patient was sent away with eye drops. Kurteeva said she was feeling 'better already.'

But social media users were left horrified by the clip, taking to the comment section to share their views.

One person wrote: "This is just disgusting, how does this happen?"

And another said: "This is horrifying but I can’t stop watching."

Now, Dr Kurteeva is using the incident to educate people about how to use contact lenses safely.

She urges wearers to always wash their hands before putting them in or taking them out and use a proper contact lens solution to store extended wear lenses.

As for daily lenses, Kurteeva tells people to dispose of them every evening before bed. And, most importantly, "NEVER SLEEP IN YOUR CONTACT LENSES."