Letter: Letters : Lenses in focus

From Jessica Lenham

Beeston, Nottingham

Compared with “normal” glasses wearers I am very short-sighted: my
prescription is −14. Between the ages of 13 and 20 I wore soft contact
lenses six days of the week (seven if I could get away with it). I was forced to
do so as my eyesight was rapidly deteriorating.

A story similar to the one you published on 8 December
(p 6) appeared on a
television programme a number of years ago. I was quite young at the time and
extremely worried by the story, so I consulted my optician. I was told that the
risk was extremely low: I had a greater chance of getting cancer. I think that
for the peace of mind of people who wear lenses not for cosmetic choice, but
because of severe sight problems, some idea of the actual level of risk involved
would have been helpful in your article.

I also found the implication that all contact lens wearers should wear
disposable contact lenses worrying. If this is so, then I suggest that more
money and time is spent on researching how to make disposable lenses available
for prescriptions stronger than −7.

If I had been scared enough to stop wearing my contact lenses when I was
younger, my eyesight might have become even worse than it is now.