I’m sharing my terrifying flesh-eating parasite ordeal so you don’t make my mistake
FOR most people, taking a quick nap is harmless and usually you wake up feeling refreshed.
But when Mike Krumholz settled down for a snooze, he never thought he’d wake up blind in one eye due to a flesh-eating parasite which eats away at eye tissue.
The 21-year-old is now sharing his terrifying ordeal so that others’ don’t make the same mistake as him.
Mike, who wears contact lenses, didn’t remove them before drifting off.
When he woke up, Mike, from Florida, US, said his eye had been irritated and was also pink.
He added: “My contacts just felt really irritated like they were floating in my eye. I took them out and there was nothing wrong,” he told The Daily Star.
Mike said he knew he had to take his lenses out, telling his parents that ‘something isn’t right’.
When he first saw his doctor, he said he was wrongly diagnosed with herpes simplex type 1.
He then went on to see five ophthalmologists and two cornea specialists, who all said the same thing, sending him away with antibiotics and steroids.
However, medics later told him that this only sped up the rate at which the parasite was spreading.
On January 21, he was finally diagnosed with acanthamoeba keratitis, at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute.
This is a rare but serious infection of the eye than can result in permanent visual impairment or blindness, the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) states.
The infection is caused by a microscopic, free-living ameba (single-celled living organism) called Acanthamoeba.
Mike had to undergo photodynamic therapy, which is where the white of the eye is taken and put over the pupil in order to fight off the parasite.
The signs of acanthamoeba keratitis you need to know
Acanthamoeba causes Acanthamoeba keratitis when it infects the transparent outer covering of the eye called the cornea.
Acanthamoeba amebas are very common in nature and can be found in bodies of water (for example, lakes and oceans), soil, and air, medics at the CDC state.
The symptoms can be similar to those of other eye infections and can last for several weeks or several months.
The main signs to look for include:
- Eye pain
- Eye redness
- Blurred vision
- Sensitivity to light
- Sensation of something in the eye
- Excessive tearing
If you have any of the above then you should see an eye doctor.
Experts at the CDC said that eventually Acanthamoeba keratitis will cause pain and vision loss if left untreated.
He now has no vision in his right eye aside from black and grey flashes, which he said are like the static from the TV.
Mike said that his cornea is ‘cloudy’, because the parasite ate away so much of it.
Due to his age, he’s not eligible for an eye transplant.
His eye is currently also too inflamed to take tissue from another human eye and Mike said that his body would likely reject a transplant.
If he is able to get one though in the future, it would give him 50 per cent of his vision back.
By sharing his experience, he’s hoping that other people won’t sleep in their contact lenses.
He said: “There’s a lot of people that wear contacts right now who have said ‘hey I’ve just slept in my contacts, should I go to the doctor?’
“I used to sleep in my contacts with no issues but I’m trying to get the word out there that is issues with it. It’s not ok now.”
Mike said that nothing could have prepared him for the pain he has had to endure since the start of his infection.
Alongside the physical pain, Mike has also had to come to terms with not working.
He’s also had to stop his university studies, but praised his parents for being able to help him financially.