Story highlights Lost rigid contact lens was encapsulated by eyelid

It stayed in her eye for 28 years without problems

(CNN) Calling all contact lens users: Do not panic. (Shuddering is fine.)

Imagine going to the eye doctor because your upper eyelid is swollen and painful. The doctor tells you it's a cyst and operates. Inside the blister, the surgeon finds a contact lens: a rigid gas-permeable one.

But you haven't worn that type of contact in 28 years!

That's what happened to a 42-year-old British woman, according to a report recently published in the journal BMJ Case Reports

The encapsulated contact can be seen on an MRI.

Starting as a pea-sized lump just below her left eyebrow, the cyst grew over a six-month period until it was visible on an MRI. In addition to swelling and later pain when touched, her left eyelid drooped.

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