The general advice is to avoid wearing contacts for more than eight hours a day. However Aimee, like many people, had been wearing them for much longer - in her case, for more than 14 hours every day.
This had slowly been starving her eyes of oxygen; while the damage wasn't apparent to the naked eye, it was spotted when the optometrist used a special microscope. Aimee was shocked to learn that she was in serious danger of losing her sight.
'The body compensates for this by growing new blood vessels over the cornea to provide an oxygen supply, or corneal neovascularisation.
'Left unchecked, the eye can become covered with blood vessels, and turn the cornea opaque. In rare cases it can threaten sight.'
The problem is the condition can build up over several years - it's only when it gets to an advanced stage that contacts wearers become aware of a problem, as that's when it will cause red, irritated eyes, by which time it may be too late.
One of the risks is corneal neovascularisation, the condition Aimee had. As Mr Kasaby explains: 'The cornea - the clear outer layer at the front of the eyeball - is the only part of the body that gets its oxygen supply directly from the air rather than from the blood.
'But a contact lens acts as a barrier to that oxygen supply, so extensive wear can potentially starve the cornea of oxygen.
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