According to a BuzzFeed News report, Julian Hamlin went blind in his left eye after wearing color contacts he bought at a gas station.
Hamlin says he bought the contacts for $15 without a prescription in 2010. Hamlin said he worse the lenses almost everyday until he got an infection.
“It was so out the blue. … I just woke up and my eye felt weird, so I went to the doctor, but he thought it was pinkeye,” says Hamlin.
He ended up having to get 15 surgeries including seven corneal transplants.
In a two-year span, Hamlin says, his medical expenses have topped $250,000, although there has been little improvement in his vision. “My left eye is completely blurry; it’s been a big transition,” says Hamlin, who has also suffered unemployment and emotional pain due to his injuries. “I’ve had to miss so many days of work, and I can’t lift anything over 25 pounds because it increases the pressure in my eyes, so I’m limited in my jobs,” he says.
Hamlin is often required to wear an eye patch or sunglasses because of the increased sensitivity in his eyes. “It’s very hard to wear an eyepatch in public. … It took my family three months to get me out of the house, because people can be so cruel and disrespectful about it,” says Hamlin.
It is currently illegal to sell contact lenses without prescriptions in the United States, since they are considered medical devices.
“There is no difference between corrective and costume lenses — they all need to be fitted to your eye by a qualified eye care professional who can write a prescription,” Thomas Steinemann, M.D., clinical spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology and professor of ophthalmology at Case Western Reserve, tells BuzzFeed Life. If contact lenses don’t fit the shape of the eye properly, Steinemann says, they can cause discomfort, pain, and scratching.
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