01/05/2026
Grace Jamison, a 20-year-old American, showered with her contact lenses in while visiting the Dominican Republic. She returned home, was misdiagnosed by her optometrist, and within days went completely blind in both eyes.
The culprit was Acanthamoeba keratitis — a parasite found in ordinary tap water that burrows into the microscopic abrasions contacts create on your cornea.
She remained blind for two months before proper treatment began, and even now her vision may never fully recover without a cornea transplant.
No doctor had ever warned her. It isn't on the packaging.
If you wear contact lenses, take them out before you shower — anywhere in the world, not just abroad. Tap water everywhere carries this risk.