Birmingham, England — A doctor recently found 27 contact lenses “lost” in a 67-year-old woman’s eye while preparing her for cataract surgery, according to a write-up in the British Medical Journal.
According to the report, the woman was unaware of the lenses and had not previously complained of eye pain.
Doctors found a “hard mass” of 17 contact lenses that were “bound together by mucus,” according to the report. Rupal Morjaria, a specialist trainee ophthalmologist, told Optometry Today an additional 10 lenses were found during a follow-up examination.
“None of us have ever seen this before,” Morjaria told Optometry Today. “We were really surprised that the patient didn’t notice it because it would cause quite a lot of irritation while it was sitting there.”
Doctors successfully removed all 27 lenses.
The write-up in the medical journal cited the woman’s “deep set eyes” as a possible explanation for why she did not experience irritation caused by the lenses.