Glenn Seltzer
Message 1 of 1
Acanthamoebae Karititis is serious you can lose your eyesight forever if you let it go. Just for the record, about ten years ago I had a bicycling accident while wearing one contact in my left eye. I was so concerned about the scaring of the face I put off the problem I was having with my eye. When I finally got around to going to the Optometrist he said it was "contact abrasion". When after two weeks it did not clear up I went to an ophthalmologist, well to make a long story short after the fifth ophthalmologist I found someone that was proficient in diseases of the eye. Seems Acanthamoebae is a free living protozoa and will attack the cornea of the eye. It can be confused with herpes simplex. It has been discovered the amoebae enters the cornea in a trauma condition such as over excitement, accident, blow to the eye etc. This is a very rare condition and I was told I was the 50 case recorded since 1950. A topical brolene solution had to be administered for 1 year in order to kill the critters. I wonder just how many others have lost their eyesight because this condition was not diagnosed correctly. I was the lucky one I see today because I had a cornea transplant, laser surgery, lens implant and most of all because finally had a good doctor Dr. Jeremy Levenson on staff at Jules Stein UCLA Medical Center with offices in Santa Monica. I am forwarding this information in hopes that it can possibly help another human being and keep him/her from the trauma I had in discovering a proficient solution.