corneal neovascularization

Five weeks ago I was diagnosed with corneal neovascularization by my optitian. He considered this to be a result of overwearing my soft contact lenses and suggested I decrease the amount of time I wear them. I followed his advice and in fact I stopped wearing the lenses completely. One month after this, my left eye has considerably improved, but my right eye is still getting worse. It feels very dry and my vision is starting to be bit hazy as well. I asked my otician why was this (improvement in one eye but worsening in the other) but he didn't know. I'm supposed to see him again on Saturday, but I can see it's getting worse. What should I do?

[Michael J Kutryb, MD]

I'm not sure why your problems would be getting worse with the contacts out - so perhaps you have an underlying more serious problem.  That's about all I have to offer.  Have the eye physician take a look again and see how the eyes are doing.  To be sure, neovascularization will not get better in a few weeks.  It would take more like months to years to improve.  You may have noted some decrease in irritation or allergies with the contacts out but may be noticing a slight change in the refraction of the eyes since the contact lenses can cause some degree of corneal warpage or astigmatism that regresses when the lenses are out for a while. You might just need some new glasses and some drops for allergies and dry eyes.

Michael Kutryb, MD