A gran's eye had to be removed after she caught an infection showering with her contact lenses in.
Marie Mason first noticed something was wrong when it felt like something was in her eye and her vision started to deteriorate.
Opticians rushed her to hospital where she was told she had a bacteria called Acanthamoeba Keratitis living inside it.
The infection continued to grow and over time feasted on the 54-year-old's cornea.
Finally, after five years of medication and a series of unsuccessful operations including three cornea transplants, her eye had to be removed.
Marie, from Sapcote, Leics, said: "I had to stop work, because at the time I worked in a kitchen in a school, and I was having to put eye drops in every half an hour so it just wasn't going to work because it's so painful.
"I also had to go to the hospital two to three times a week, and sometimes even more.
"I was also in eye casualty a lot because something would flare up, so with all the times I had to go into hospital, I couldn't have gone to work because it wouldn't have been worth it anyway.
"There was just lots of hospital visits, lots of eye drops, lots of operations and procedures and lots of pain.
"I do struggle sometimes because my vision on my left side is rubbish, well it's not there.
"It's quite hard walking down the street when you've got people whizzing by you, and it makes you jump a bit because you don't expect it."
Marie wore 30-day contact lenses and believes the infection got into her eye via water while showering.
She is now calling for better warnings on contact lens packs over the risks of contamination.
She said: "I don't want anything to think that I'm asking people to not wear contact lenses because I'm not asking that at all.
"Wear contact lenses, that's absolutely fine, but you've just got to be careful - it's the water thing more than anything.
"I would just like the manufacturers to put more warnings on the packaging about water and contact lenses.
"I just don't want anyone else to go through it really."
"My life is alright now, I haven't gone back to work to the place I left, but I now work for my husband.
"The only thing I've not gone back to is driving, I stopped driving quite early on in the journey because I wasn't comfortable with it, and I haven't got the confidence to go back to it, so that's the main thing that's changed for me.”
