23 Contact Lenses Removed From Newport Beach Patient’s Eye

NEWPORT BEACH, CA – A Newport Beach ophthalmologist recently went viral after sharing a video of herself removing 23 contact lenses from a patient’s eye.

In the video, which garnered millions of views on social media, Dr. Kurteeva uses a surgical instrument to carefully remove the nearly two dozen contact lenses, which Kurteeva explained in an Instagram post were “essentially glued together after sitting under the eyelid for a month.”

But how did the patient not realize she was wearing so many contact lenses at once?

“To this day, she herself doesn’t understand how it took place,” Kurteeva said in an interview with ABC7. But Kurteeva has a theory as to how her patient remained relatively comfortable even as the contacts stacked onto her eyes.

“As you wear contact lenses for many years … our cornea becomes desensitized,” Kurteeva explained to ABC7, adding that the loss of the eye’s sensitivity over time is a “protective feature” of the body to reduce discomfort for contact wearers.

“At the same time, you don’t feel when something is really wrong as acutely,” Kurteeva continued to the outlet, explaining that this can be especially true for senior patients whose upper eyelid pockets deepen with age.

“The contacts were able to hide like a stack of pancakes deep inside in the least sensitive part of the eye,” Kurteeva added.

Fortunately, Kurteeva told the outlet that her patient is “doing great” and made a quick recovery from the ordeal. Meanwhile, Kurteeva is making good use of her newfound attention and directing eyeballs on her Instagram profile to tips regarding proper eye care and contact lens use.

“What a privilege to continue to educate the public about proper wear of contact lenses,” Kurteeva wrote in the caption of an Instagram post. “I hope many infections will be prevented after this video circled the globe!”