'Blinded by a contact lens': Mother loses her sight (PHOTOS)

A mother lost her left eye after suffering a rare infection she believes was caused by her contact lens. Jacqui Stone endured 22 operations and more than 17 weeks in hospital after wearing a disposable lens from a popular brand. Doctors had to remove her eye because of fears the rare but aggressive fungal infection would penetrate her optic nerve and enter her brain. Mrs Stone, 42, said: ‘They tried everything to save my eye but the fungus had grown too strong. ‘It would have killed me. I’m terrified the fungus will come back if I get ill.’ See more photos  after the cut

The maths teaching assistant bought the Focus Dailies All-Day Comfort Lenses from a UK website last May to help her see the whiteboard better in the classroom. The mother of two, who has worn contact lenses ‘on and off’ for 20 years, said everything seemed normal when she put the lenses in. 

She added: ‘I am one of those people who doesn’t take risks – I know I washed my hands when I put them in. It wasn’t until I got home at 5pm that I thought “these feel awful” and had to take them out. ‘I threw them away as they were disposables and didn’t think any more about it at the time. But the next day I had very blurred vision out of my left eye. At the time I thought it was painful but the pain just got worse and worse.’