A Doctor Removed 23 Contact Lenses From A Woman's Eye & The Patient Just 'Forgot' Them (VIDEO)

Have you ever forgotten to take out your contact lenses before going to bed?

It happened to a woman in Newport Beach, California, and her ophthalmologist says she couldn't believe it when she removed 23 contact lenses from the woman’s eye.

This article contains graphic content that might not be suitable for some readers.

Dr. Katerina Kurteeva posted a video of the procedure online and it has since gone viral with more than one million views.

In an essay written for Insider, Kurteeva says the patient, who is in her mid-70s, wore daily contacts and came into the clinic recently complaining of pain in her eye.

Kurteeva initially thought the pain was due to a broken contact lens, a scratch on the cornea, an infection or debris from makeup.

At first, the eye specialist says she used a special eye stain so she could see any foreign objects in the eye and also numb the area.

She was stumped because there was no sign of anything.

Kurteeva tells Narcity when she asked the woman to look down that's when she saw a "blob" and what looked like "a second pupil" so she asked her assistant to start recording.

"I started going at it with the [cotton swabs], it was like a stack of pancakes and they [the contact lenses] were all coming out one at a time," she explains. "I'm glad that it is such a graphic video that grabs people's attention. It's kind of an important issue."

In the Instagram video, Kurteeva uses a cotton swab to pull the contact lenses down and slowly separates them, revealing just how many were stuck together.

“You're my Guinness book of record patient,” Kurteeva says in the video.

“I think I’ve already counted more than 10 or 12,” she adds. The patient responds by saying “Oh come on... I can’t believe you.”

In a second Instagram post, Kurteeva writes "I had to use [a] very fine surgical instrument a jeweler forceps to separate contact lenses. They were essentially glued together after sitting under the eyelid for a month."

To highlight just how bizarre of a situation it is, the expert says she’s “never seen anything like it” in her 20 years of work.

The eye doctor says the woman immediately felt better after having the contacts removed.

“Remarkably, they [the contact lenses] have been sitting there for so long and they have not caused a serious infection. It did cause chronic conjunctivitis, that's why the mucus was there," the doctor says in her interview with Narcity.

Kurteeva gave the patient anti-inflammatory drops and she says the woman's vision has improved when she saw her for a follow-up appointment.

The eye doctor says optometrists around the world are now using her video to educate their patients on the importance of removing contact lenses every single night.

The light and flimsy lenses should not be used for more than 24 hours, she says in the Insider piece.

Kurteeva is also using this story as a warning to others, saying the patient was “fortunate” and she could have lost her vision, scratched her eye or gotten an infection.

As for how the woman could have forgotten to remove the lenses for so long, the eye specialist notes the woman has been wearing lenses for 30 years. When someone wears them for that long, their corneal nerve endings could become desensitized.

Age could have been another factor.

The story has gone viral since Kurteeva’s initial post, even making it onto Saturday Night Live.

As for anyone who wears contact lenses, this story is sure to teach them a valuable lesson!

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.