Doctor removes 23 contact lenses from eye of patient who ‘forgot to take them out for almost a month’

A doctor has shared a bizarre video of her removing 23 contact lenses from a patient’s eye.

Dr Katerina Kurteeva posted the clip on Instagram of her teasing the lenses from underneath a woman’s eyelid.

The video went viral and has now racked up more than a million views.

According to the ophthalmologist’s post, the patient put in a new set of lenses for 23 days in a row without ever taking the previous day’s out.

Posting the video on the California Eye Associates Instagram page, she wrote: “A rare occasion when someone ‘forgot’ to remove contact lenses at night and kept on putting a new one in every morning. 23 days in a row!!! I got to deliver the contact lens bunch yesterday in my clinic.”

Warning: video shows multiple contact lenses being removed from an eye.

The video shows a close up of the patient’s eye and Dr Kurteeva carefully scraping the lenses out with a cotton wool bud.

Elaborating in a separate Instagram post, she wrote: “Over a million views, glad to have an opportunity to educate the public about contact lens hygiene wear.

“I have carefully separated all the contact lenses and counted a total of 23. I had to use a very fine surgical instrument, a jeweller’s forceps, to separate the contact lenses.

“They were essentially glued together after sitting under the eyelid for a month.”

Speaking to Insider, Dr Kurteeva added: “In nearly 20 years of practice, I had never seen anything like it. The patient couldn’t believe it either and asked if I was sure about the number I was counting.”

She added that the patient was sent away with eye drops and was feeling “better already”.