The Irish summer has come and gone. It was a glorious weekend full of sun, fun and taking in the beauty of Ireland that only truly becomes apparent once the sun decides to grace us with her presence. Well it was for most people, not me however, no I was locked away in my bedroom nursing a lovely infected eye.

Rule one of wearing contact lenses; do NOT fall asleep with them in. I’m someone who doesn’t abide by the rules, lives fast and loose, you know, a real outlaw. So after one too many vinos I broke the golden rule of being a blind beauty. Yes! I fell asleep with my contact lenses in, not for the first time mind you, but I can assure you it will be the last.

At this point I would also like to point out, just to make myself seem even more of an ejit, that I have been using contacts, daily, for over 10 years. So yeah, I should have known better.

I woke with an agonising pain in my eye, which was accompanied by something that you would reluctantly wipe from a toddler’s nose. My eye was completely red, swollen and felt as though there were shards of glass in it. I quickly whipped the contacts out of my eye and went to rinse it out. As the day went on my eye began to get bigger, more sensitive to light and wept uncontrollably.

So as everyone was posting their pictures of ice creams, beach walks and BBQ’s, I was feeling miserable for myself in my  dungeon with the blinds shut and curtains drawn. Due to the sensitivity to light I even had to turn the brightness down on my phone and my TV.

This was my delightful weekend. A trip to the doctors saw me signed off work for two days, but thankfully no permanent damage was done.

Writing this, my eye is not completely back to normal. In saying normal I mean back to my semi-normal blurred vision as opposed to this layer of fog mixed with blurred vision.

I have had run ins with contact lenses in the past, normally as a result of a hefty night of drinking, but this one has scared me. So to ensure this doesn’t happen I have taken some precautions, which if you are a fellow blind beauty, might help you avoid the agony I was in. That is if you are a blind and drunken beauty that I am, on occasion, on occasion only, despite the rumours 🙂

Step 1. Gather all my contacts cases, wash and fill them with contact solution. Your optician generally will give you a couple of these for free. The solution I use is Cooper Vision Options Multi Solution. Solution cleans, disinfects and keeps the contacts soft.

Step 2. Stock up on Optrex. As my eyejury happened on Saturday it was the best thing I had on hand and gave some relief until I got something a bit stronger. A wet face cloth is also a god send to ease the swelling.

Step 3. Scatter the contacts cases filled with solution so there is always one at hand i.e. your handbag, work, OH house or Car.

Step 4. I filled an empty container with solution so that I can easily carry some with me at all times. For this I use the empty travel bottles for hand luggage from Pennys.

Finally I looked into laser for my eyes as a drastic move to ensure this doesn’t happen again, but to save me around €1,700 I thought the above measures were more cost-effective.

AJ xX