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Thread: Contact lenses turned purple?

  1. #1
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    Question Contact lenses turned purple?

    Had a run-in with a patient's mother today. She says her daughter's contact lenses just turned purple and we have to replace them (no charge of course ) They're Hydrasoft Torics that were ordered in August 2006; there's no way this is a manufacturer's defect. Mom claims that the daughter hasn't changed anything about her cleaning regime. She says this has never happened before and she's absolutely disgusted with it.

    One doctor thinks the lenses were stored in tap water. Another thinks it might be some medication the daughter's taking. I personally think daughter tried to dye her lenses. They really are a dark purple and colour is bleeding out into the solution. By the way, why do people have such disgusting contact lens cases? But just in case, has anyone had this happen? Is there any logical reason for the lenses to have changed colour?

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    Master OptiBoarder Jedi's Avatar
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    I would be stunned if it was anything other than the girl trying to dye her lenses. People are crazy.
    "It's not impossible. I used to bull's-eye womp rats in my T-16 back home."


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    Food colouring...guaranteed.

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    I'd say a good old fashioned home dye job. Or, one really nasty bacterial growth. Hold your ground on this one. I think you are being scammed. Good luck.

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    Re:

    Had the patient been on a trip to India lately?
    I India,this thing is common during this time of the year!!!!
    We have a festival called "HOLI".On this day people put colour on each other's face,& some time it goes inside the eyes,& gets absorbed by the lens,hence the tint!!We simply send them to the local lab,who gets them bleached.
    Just my two cents.
    Vimal

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    Has she been to Mardi Gras?

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    small but mighty! Nettie's Avatar
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    This is so deva vu! The same thing happened in my office about a year ago. The lenses were red and had a funny smell. The dad was being mr. macho and demanding refunds. I told him I would "test" the lenses. The "test" consisted of me and my employees passing around the case taking whiffs until a lightbulb went off and we all said "COUGH SYRUP!!!!" I told the dad the "test" confirmed that it was cough syrup and his daughter finally admitted to trying to dye them for halloween. :hammer:

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    http://www.uspharmacist.com/oldforma...article_id=129
    (see "CL incompatibilities")

    Ask what kind of care solution is being used. I seem to remember something about hydrogen peroxide-based systems and the color purple. It's an interaction between unmatched solutions, IIRC.

    http://www.revoptom.com/archive/issue/ro07f2.htm
    Last edited by drk; 02-21-2007 at 02:13 AM.

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    drk,
    Thanks for the US Pharmacist link. I found the Review of Optometry article this morning too.

    spexwala,
    That is a distinct possibility because the family is of South Asian descent. I'll ask about that as well.

    I'm still leaning to the dye theory, mostly because of the colour in the solution as well as the lenses. After reading Nettie's post, I sniffed the case (after warning my colleagues that I'm not crazy) and there is an unfamiliar smell. We'll see what happens when the daughter comes in to meet with the doc.

    Thanks for all the suggestions!

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    Once had someone handle their contacts after making Cherry Jello - it turned the entire lens and the solution red.

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    My daughter turned her contacts pink once after eating dyed pistachios.

    Try soaking them in straight H2O2 ( as found in commercially available bottles). Carefully rinse with tap water or saline and resoak in H202 a couple of times. Shake vigorously, or use an ultrasonic cleaner. The H202, without salt, will cause the lens to swell and the dye molecules will drop out of the lens matrix.

    Finally, soak in AOSept or Clear care twice to restore the salt content. It probably won't eliminate all the color, but good luck.

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    Keep us posted, I'm intereted to hear the outcome of this one! :-)

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    If you think it is tap water or dye and they do not want to fess up to it, I would find a way of trying to not make them your client anymore. Cover your behind.

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    Outcome

    Well, mother and daughter came in last Saturday to pick up the new pair. Wish I would have been there myself. Anyway, the daughter insisted that they turned purple overnight After going over cleaning regimine and cleaning the case daily, the doctor thinks the mom now realises that something's up. Apparently it happened while the daughter was at Whistler for a ski weekend. I suspect that her friends and she thought that dyeing the lenses would be fun.

    If any of you are curious, this is what the lenses did "overnight".
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails P3060014.JPG  

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    When extended wear came out in the early 80's we saw many things. The lenses were returned to the manufacturer for analysis after several problems with patients. I remember, that in one case, the color change was due to exposure to illegal substances (I did not inhale), the second was due to discharge of apparent insulin in a diabetic and the most common reason was from incompatible solutions or preservatives.

    I also know of several cases where an employee of a florist had spotted colored CL's from wearing them to tip flowers with spray paint.

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    threadkiller? eromitlab's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mlm View Post
    If any of you are curious, this is what the lenses did "overnight".
    mmm... that looks nice, no wonder the mom was flipping out. I think you're on the right track by suggesting they were dyed...

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    Epenephrine will turn them brown.

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    If you hear hoofbeats, look for horses, not zebras. Food colouring.

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    Master OptiBoarder Joann Raytar's Avatar
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    A long shot but there was another B&L ReNu Recall:



    The excess iron cited in Tuesday's recall may have caused the solution to become discolored and shortened the time the product is effective, the company said. The recall covered 12 lots, with nine of those in the U.S.

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    Thanks for the link Joe!:cheers:

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