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17th Apr 2025

Woman had 23 contact lenses taken out from her eye after she ‘forgot’ to remove them

Ava Keady

A horrifying video of the contact removal has gone viral on social media.

Warning: This article contains graphic images that some readers may find distressing.

A woman has had 23 contact lenses taken out from her eye after she ‘forgot’ to remove them.

Yikes!

A horrifying video of the contact removal has gone viral on social media.

Dr Katerina Kurteeva shared the video of her removing 23 contact lenses from a patient’s eye on the California Eye Associates Instagram page back in 2022.

It has since wracked up over 3.5 million views.

Let’s just say the video is NOT for the faint-hearted.

In the clip, the ophthalmologist explained how the patient wore a new set of lenses every day for 23 days without taking out the previous day’s pair.

The caption read: “A rare occasion when someone ‘forgot’ to remove contact lenses at night and kept on putting a new one in every morning. 23 days in a row!!! I got to deliver the contact lens bunch yesterday in my clinic.

“I have carefully separated all the contact lenses and counted total of 23. I had to use very fine surgical instrument a jeweller forceps to separate contact lenses. They were essentially glued together after sitting under the eyelid for a month.”

Speaking to Insider, Dr Kurteeva explained that the woman had come into her practice complaining of pain.

“In nearly 20 years of practice, I had never seen anything like it. The patient couldn’t believe it either and asked if I was sure about the number I was counting.”

Social media users were left bamboozled from the clip, with one commenting: “This is just disgusting, how does this happen?”

“It’s shocking, but yet so satisfying,” said another.

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