A drunken US man has damaged his eyes while trying to remove his contact lenses.

The intoxicated man staggered into an emergency room in Pennsylvania complaining of severe pain when he tried to take out his lenses.

He told doctors the lenses would come out halfway but then popped back into place.

A nurse used a suction pump in an attempt to remove the lenses without success.

Finally a doctor suggested he should examine the patient's eyes - and realised he hadn't actually put his contact lenses in.

The man had been trying to pull out the membrane of his cornea.