Don't Rub Your Eyes After Handling Zoanthids/Palythoa

Read the whole thing - very scary, especially since zoas are my favorites. So glad you are feeling better! Time always helps, hope your eye keeps getting better!

 

thanks everyone!!!

Got the lens today and the vision was actually better than when they did the trial. it is now 20/40!!! Great news.

Problem is......I am going to have a harder time getting used to it then I thought i would. This lens is so small that it is designed only to fit only over your pupil, I would guestimate 2/3 smaller than a normal lens, so that it can fit over the weird shaped cornea. Well, everytime you blink it moves a lot!!! Plus I found out the hard way that it will move off your eye and wander to the back of the eye very easily. I have no nerve sensation apparently on the cornea so I really cant feel when it is off center, only a decrease in the vision. The doctor was alarmed at how little nerve sensation I actually had. Thought it would make it easier but nope!

After struggling to get the lens out of the eye.......very odd to remove, we left the office. I was driving getting used to the lens in when i looked over to the side and the lens moved to the side of the eye. I tried to slide it back in place and lost it. Not even 10 minutes out of the doctors office. We looked in the eye, not there. Looked on the floor, all over me, all through my purse, the concrete outside the car everywhere.........No where to be found! I then had an idea, maybe it moved to the back of the eye. I figured out quickly how to get it out from back there and moved it to the front. By this time my eye was beet red (didnt hurt at all.......) so decided to call it a day for the lens! Will try again tomorrow. I have a feeling with no nerve sensation it is going to be hard to get used to and not lose. She said in the begining she might have to reorder different types of lens.

 

I sure hope all of this works itself out. I was reading how quick my dog would not make it if she were to eat a frag. I don't put it past her either, she eats everything. I had no idea until I read this thread how dangerous some of this stuff can be.

Thank you for sharing all of this, ((big hugs)) for all the issues this has givin you.

 

day 2 of the contact......lasted a whole 20 minutes this time before I lost it in the back of my eye!!! It slid off the cornea x2 in that time, and on the third time it completely went in the back (I say in the back but i know it doesnt, but it goes beyond you being able to see it when you turn your eye!) I am supposed to be at 5 hours today and made it all of 20 minutes!!! Lol.......need to learn how to not move my eye whatsoever!!! The contact is awesome if i dont blink or move my eyeball! I am going to keep at it but i am thinking they are going to have to make a bigger lens surface somehow. Everytime it moves it inflames the eye which turns beet red and because of all the damage i dont put it back in!!!

 

quick update! Lens number 4 was picked up yesterday. Feels much better, doesnt seem to move as much (though still moving a lot) She is happy with the fit on this one, however the vision is worse. Apparently there is still scarring or something going on still and I got lectured because a couple weeks ago i was having a lot of floaters in my vision and was informed that this is a medical emergency and to call 24/7. But I am hoping this lens will work for me. I was able to wear it for 2 1/2 hours yesterday before I removed it and didnt move 1 time.

 

Good news on the lens. I think anything amiss with your vision is an emergency now.

 

I know this thread's been silent a while, but I thought I'd join in the discussion as I enter day 2 of a similar ordeal. Thanks so much Mel for documenting your experience!

Sunday evening- we were helping out at our local reef shop, removing bubble algae from a bunch of softies in quarantine to set up a new display tank.

Sunday night- left eye irritated and red before bed, which isn't too unusual with my allergies/ job on a construction site.

Monday morning- woke up to a nasty eye and entered the public realm without showering, en route to see a doctor about an eye infection. After a fun half-hour rave of fluorescent dye, cotton swabs, and blacklights in my eye, I was on my way with a prescription for Moxeza (moxifloxacin hydrochloride ophthalmic solution) .5%, 2x daily for 3 days to treat conjunctivitis.

Monday- slept off and on all day under the influence of benadryl. TV and computer use cause pain similar to that of sunlight.

Monday night- recalled working with palythoas the previous day and began research related to the toxins we've all heard about.

Tuesday morning- found this thread and left a message with the doctor of new information relevant to my condition. They called back with an appointment for me to see an ophthalmologist at 10.....

 

Welcome bwied, I am actually glad you bumped this.

I know I am sometimes casual in the manner I handle palys and zonathids. I needed a reminder.

 

Man that really sucks.Paly's are especially nasty ime.This is no joke.
Wishing you a speedy recovery bro let us know how you are doing.

 

Yes, I agree! This is something that I rarely think about, unless there's a close call.

I was fragging some z/ps and trying to get rid of some of those pesky green palys out of a friend's tank. Well, I make the first cut and I must have hit one right in the middle, cause there was paly guts squirting past my face. THAT'S the moment I remember that this stuff is poisonous and I'm just chopping away with a knife.