Contact Lenses: How to Care for Them
If you don’t clean, disinfect, and store your contact lenses properly, you could acquire a serious eye infection. Follow your eye doctor’s directions to the letter.
The dangers of wearing contact lenses
Contact lenses that are too old or too tight might scratch your eyes. They can also cause blood vessels to develop into your cornea, putting your vision in jeopardy.
Contact lenses may become irritated by eye drops. When using contacts, it’s advisable to stay away from any eye drops. You can, however, follow your eye doctor’s advice and use wetting drops or preservative-free lubricating drops.
Ensure that your contacts are well-cared for.
Any contact lens that you take out of your eye must be cleaned and disinfected before being reinserted. Cleaning systems come in a variety of forms. The option you choose is determined by the type of contact lens you wear, allergies, and whether or not your eyes are prone to protein deposits. Consult your eye doctor for recommendations on cleaning treatments.
To avoid severe eye infections, use extra caution when cleaning and storing your lenses.
What you should do is follow these steps:
If your eyes are very red, painful, watery, or light sensitive, take out your contact lenses and call your eye doctor right once. If your vision is hazy or you observe oozing or pus coming from your eye, do the same. These could be signs of anything more serious going on with your eyes.
Observe the directions.
- Follow your eye doctor’s instructions for wearing and replacing your contact lenses.
- To clean and store your lenses, follow your doctor’s, contact lens manufacturer’s, and lens cleaning solution manufacturer’s instructions. If you keep your lenses in the case for an extended period of time, check the instructions to determine if you need to re-disinfect them before using them. If your contact lenses have been stored for 30 days or more without being re-disinfected, you should never wear them.
- Keep all of your eye examination visits. Over time, contact lenses can stretch and your cornea can alter shape. Visit your eye doctor on a regular basis to ensure that your lenses fit properly and that your prescription is correct.
- When wearing contacts, avoid taking a shower, swimming, using a hot tub, or doing anything that could cause water to enter your eyes. Contact lenses and water are incompatible.
- Sleeping with contact lenses on is not a good idea.
Thoroughly clean and rewet
- Before handling your contact lenses, wash them with soap and water and pat them dry with a lint-free towel.
- Regardless of the type of lens cleaning solution you purchase, use the “rub and rinse” procedure. Before soaking your contact lenses, rub them clean with your fingertips and then rinse them with solution. Even if your solution is a “no-rub” type, follow this procedure.
- To wet contacts, never put them in your mouth. Saliva (spit) isn’t sterile.
- Contacts should not be washed or stored in water (tap or sterile water).
- Never use a saline solution that you’ve prepared yourself.
- To disinfect your lenses, don’t use saline or rewetting drops. They aren’t disinfectants in the traditional sense.
- Clean and disinfect your contact lenses with a different solution every time. Never top off or re-use an old solution.
- Pouring contact lens solution into another bottle is not a good idea. There will be no more sterility in the solution.
- Make sure the solution bottle’s tip isn’t in contact with anything. When you are not using the bottle, keep it tightly closed.
Keep your contact case in good condition.
- Maintain the cleanliness of your contact lens case. After rinsing it with clean contact lens solution (not tap water), air dry the empty case.
- Replace the case every three months, or as soon as it becomes cracked or damaged.
