Man left partially blind after developing eye-eating infection from his contact lenses

A man has been left blind in one eye after contracting a rare infection from his contact lenses, which has slowly destroyed his cornea.

Retired engineer Stephen Souter, aged 63, has been diagnosed with Acanthamoeba Keratitis - an infection caused by microscopic amoebae found in water, which can cause serious problems if they invade the eye.

Around 85 per cent of people who develop the infection are contact lens wearers, as poor lens hygiene increases the risk.

He said he had been using the daily disposable contacts for around three years, and said he was "religious" about using and cleaning them properly.

Mr Souter said he had suffered "indescribable" pain from the disease, and has to use two different kinds of eye drops to relieve the pressure on his eyeball to prevent it from bursting.

He needs to wait until the infection has been completely killed off before he will be eligible for a cornea transplant.

Mr Souter, from Braunton in Devon, said he first noticed a problem in January, when he noticed redness in his eye and began experiencing pain.

Doctors first thought it was a normal infection, before diagnosing herpes - but it was only when he developed a small circle on the surface of his eye and his vision became increasingly blurred that they began to investigate other possibilities.

He was eventually given eye drops and slow-release morphine tablets for the pain, but he lost his sight altogether in the summer.

Around 1 in 50,000 contact lens wearers in the UK are affected each year by the disease, but only a small number go blind.