A soft contact lens wearer developed pain & itching of the eye & showed a reticular pattern on the corneal epithelium the cause could be:

Typical reticular pattern due to radial keratoneuritis (Radial perineuritis). Due to this, the pain is very severe (neurological due to perineuritis) which is out of propoion to the degree of inflammation. Later, reticular superficial keratitis advanced to ring-shaped lesion in central or paracentral region.