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Teen Loses Contact Lens - Docs Find It In Her Eyelid 28 Years Later

UNITED KINGDOM (CBSNEWS.COM) - Nearly three decades ago, a 14-year-old in the UK got hit in the eye during a game of badminton and lost her contact lens. No big deal, right? Well, 28 years later, doctors found the missing contact… embedded in a cyst in her left eyelid.

contact in eyelid
Two brain scans (one from the top of the woman's head, and one from the side) showing the small cyst in her eyelid. The red arrows indicate the cyst. (credit: BMJ Case Reports 2018)

It's not like the woman was looking for it the entire time, though. At age 42, she visited an ophthalmologist for what she thought was an unrelated problem: Her left eyelid had been swollen and drooping for about six months, and doctors could feel a small lump under the skin, according to a report of her case, published in the journal BMJ Case Reports.

An MRI revealed a "well-defined" cyst, measuring 0.31 by 0.16 by 0.24 inches, just above her left eye. Doctors surgically extracted the cyst.

Once it was removed, however, the cyst broke open, revealing an extremely fragile hard contact lens inside.

Of course, the woman couldn't immediately recall how the contact lens got there or how long it had been there. But then, her mother remembered...

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