Contact lenses may increase risk of eye infections by transferring bugs from skin to the eye

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Contact lenses may increase risk of eye infections by transferring bugs from skin to the eye
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Contact lenses appear to pick up bacteria before they are placed in eyes
Transfer of bugs can trigger infections and inflammations, research found
Bacteria found in the eyes of lens wearers is similar to that found on skin

Published: 10:46 EST, 31 May 2015 | Updated: 10:47 EST, 31 May 2015

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Contact lenses may increase the risk of eye infections by transferring bugs from skin to the eye, new research has shown.

The lenses appear to pick up bacteria before they are placed in people's eyes, triggering infections and inflammation, scientists found.

The researchers took hundreds of swabs of various parts of the eyes of nine contact lens wearers and 11 people who did not wear contact lenses.

Contact lenses may increase the risk of eye infections by transferring bugs from skin to the eye, new research has shown

They found that in both groups the eye surface, or conjunctiva, harboured a more diverse range of bacteria than the skin directly beneath the eye.

Three times the usual proportion of three types of bugs - Methylobacterium, Lactobacillus, Acinetobacter and Pseudomonas - were identified on the eyeballs of those wearing the lenses.

The bacterial ecosystem of lens wearers appeared to be more similar to that of skin than the eye.

Lead scientist Dr Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello, from NYU Langone Medical Centre in New York, said: 'Our research clearly shows that putting a foreign object, such as a contact lens, on the eye is not a neutral act.

Lead scientist Dr Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello's study found that bacteria found in the eyes of lens wearers was similar to that found on people's skin

'These findings should help scientists better understand the long-standing problem of why contact-lens wearers are more prone to eye infections than non-lens wearers.'

Dr Dominguez-Bello added: 'What we hope our future experiments will show is whether these changes in the eye microbiome of lens wearers are due to fingers touching the eye, or from the lens's direct pressure affecting and altering the immune system in the eye and what bacteria are suppressed or are allowed to thrive.'

The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in New Orleans.

Professor Jack Dodick, chair of opthalmology at NYU Langone who was also involved with the study, said: 'There has been an increase in the prevalence of corneal ulcers following the introduction of soft contact lenses in the 1970s.

'This study suggests that because the offending organisms seem to emanate from the skin, greater attention should be directed to eyelid and hand hygiene to decrease the incidence of this serious occurrence.'

The research also showed that more Staphylococcus bacteria - which are linked to eye infections and are more prominent on the skin - were found in the eyes of non-lens wearers. The scientists cannot yet provide an explanation for this result.