Bali nightmare as man diagnosed with eye-eating parasite after swimming in pool while wearing contact lenses

A two-month holiday to Bali has left a British tourist facing an uncertain future for his eyesight after he was diagnosed with a rare parasitic eye infection.

Matt Flack, 38, developed redness, watering and a “gritty” sensation in his left eye at the end of his holiday after he had spent much of his time on the Indonesian Island swimming, surfing and exercising.

The photographer, from Colchester, Essex, initially thought the irritation was caused by sand or saltwater. But after flying home to the UK on July 10, his symptoms became significantly worse.

“I stopped wearing my contact lenses and figured whatever it was would sort itself out,” he told People.

“But then it worsened. I became really sensitive to light, and it got more uncomfortable. The watering was pretty much constant, and I couldn’t really open (my eye) much.”

Mr Flack was prescribed antiseptic eye drops and underwent a corneal scraping procedure at an eye clinic, where an optometrist took a small tissue sample from his cornea. But the painful symptoms persisted.

Doctors eventually diagnosed Mr Flack with acanthamoeba keratitis, a rare infection caused by a microscopic organism that attacks the cornea.

According to Healthy WA, acanthamoeba can be found in dust, soil, seawater, freshwater, tap water, bottled water, and chlorinated spas and swimming pools. The single-celled organism can cause infection when it enters the eye, usually through a small scratch on the cornea caused by contact lenses that have been exposed to contaminated water or poor lens hygiene.

The condition can cause intense pain, redness, excessive watering, blurred vision and sensitivity to light. In serious cases, it can result in permanent damage to eyesight.

Mr Flack, who has worn daily contact lenses for more than two decades, believes swimming while wearing his lenses may have contributed to the infection.

“I’ve done a lot of swimming in pools in Bali and had contacts in. It’s one of those things I’ve never really thought about — I’ve probably been quite blasé with it,” he said.

“Perhaps I didn’t know the full risks, but I wish I had.”

The Brit now fears he could lose his eye and is facing an intensive treatment regime involving medicated eye drops.

“There’s a huge fear that I’ll become blind in that eye. To find out I’ve got something that could potentially take one of (my eyes) away is petrifying,” he said.

“If it continues to fight the eye drops or gets worse, then that’s obviously a lot more impactful on my eyesight, and we could be talking about corneal transplants and operation after operation.

“In the absolute worst-case scenario, I wave goodbye to my left eye. It’s a horrifying thought.”

He is now warning other people who wear contact lenses about the risks of swimming with them in.

“It’s important for contact lens wearers to realise just because you wear dailies doesn’t mean you’re safe. I wore daily contacts, and here I am,” Mr Flack said.

“If I can just get a couple of people to take their contacts out before they fling themself into a swimming pool, that’ll be good news because no one needs to go through this.”