Many contact lens wearers have become accustomed to bad contact lens habits. The same can be said by eyewear as well, however, contact lenses can lead to an eye infection when poorly maintained or mishandled. Below, we've listed a couple of brief tips regarding maintaining contact lenses, and how to ensure that your eyes remain safe and comfortable for optimal health.
Never Top off your contact lenses with tap water!
Are you one of those contact lens wearers who rinse contact lenses with water? You may not be aware of it, but you’re adding bacteria build up rather than cleaning your lens. Numerous chemicals and bacteria flow through pipes and tap water, which may be considered safe to drink but dangerous for your contact lenses.
Instead of topping off your contact lenses with tap water, clean your contact lenses with contact lens solution. This will ensure your contact lenses are properly maintained, and this will help reduce the risks of irritation, redness, and avoid an eye infection.
Say GOODBYE to that old contact lens case
Contact lens cases are reusable - temporarily. They have a lifespan of maybe one or two months. Bacteria build-up affects the contact lens case as well as the contact lenses and will not go away. Simply scrubbing out your contact lens case with soap will not be enough. The plastic material absorbs chemicals and bacteria, so a simple scrubbing will fail to solve the real issue.
Wake Up & Take Out Your Contacts
Wearing your contact lenses for too long can be dangerous. One of the most common causes of an eye infection or corneal ulceration was a result of sleeping in contact lenses. Although contact lenses can testify they have slept with their contact lenses and felt zero irritation, this is either fictional or a failure to recognize they caused harm to their cornea.
The eye is not meant to be encased in plastic for too long, especially through an entire and overnight. Just because you don’t notice the bacteria build up or corneal damage, doesn’t mean your eyes can tolerate extended periods of contact lens wear. Contact lens wearers need to stick to their contact lens regimen or schedule and not extend the life of a contact lens. The same holds true for removing a contact lens before bedtime and cleaning them with contact lens solution.
Daily contact lenses are popular, comfortable, and reduce overuse!
The standard contact lens worn varies between bi-weekly or monthly lenses, yet daily disposable contact lenses have become the ideal recommendation among many eye doctors. The maintenance-free handling, avoidance of a contact lens case, and strictly encased in contact lens solution avoid bacteria build-up. Plus, they're very easy to keep track of, and losing one isn't nearly as problematic as a monthly.
Last Safety Tip: Take a Contact Lens Holiday.
Your eyes are not meant to be encased in plastic for the whole week. Make sure you wear each week your backup pair of eyeglasses to help your eyes get the oxygen they need to breathe! If you don't have a backup pair of eyeglasses, you may want to invest in a new pair to help your eyes get back on track with proper contact lens care.
For more information about wearing contact lenses, contact our Glendale, CA eye care center at Monji Optometry today.