Contact lenses are a great option for people who do not want or cannot use glasses for different reasons. But contacts lenses are named that for a reason, when wearing them, they are in direct contact with your eye. If you do not take proper care of your contacts, you can risk your own eyes to serious damage. That’s why we’ve put together some basic – yet very important – advice on the usage and care of your contact lenses. Let’s see.
1. Can you really wear them?
Contact lenses are not just to see better, protect your eyes and correct vision problems, some lenses are just meant to be decorative. That is why when Halloween comes it’s pretty normal to see a lot of people with strange and impactful eyes (well, contact lenses actually). But hey, do you think they all ask their eye-care specialist if they could use those contacts? Probably not and that’s risky because not everybody can use contacts and should always consult an optometrist. Some conditions are just not right for contact lenses.
For example, if you have dry eyes and it has been hard to treat it, you might not want to use contacts as it can be dangerous for your vision. The same goes with people that suffer from severe and/or constant eye infections or allergies.
Your environment is also a factor here. Did you know contact lenses are not recommended for people in areas or spaces with lots of dust?
Our advice here is to connect with an optometrist and ask if you actually are a contact lenses candidate.
Call contact lens providers
2. Follow recommendations.
If you are not an eye-health specialist, you might want to visit one when it comes to your own vision health.
Ophthalmologists, optometrists, contact lenses manufacturers and contact lenses cleaning solution manufacturers can all give you clear instructions on the usage and care of the lenses. They know what they’re talking about.
This advice is pretty simple: listen to the experts.
– Normally, they will tell you when to wear and replace the lenses. Don’t forget it and try to follow the schedule as much as you can.
– Don’t sleep with your daily wear contact lenses on.
– Don’t get your contacts in touch with water.
– Keep going to the eye doctor on a regular basis. Your eyes can change over time, and you’d want a professional to check you and your lens to make sure they’re still good for you.
– When you store your lenses in its case for long periods of time, we suggest you read the instructions or call your optometrist to determine if you should wear them again or not. Maybe just a disinfection will work for you, but again, ask the experts.
3. Care for your contact lenses and their case.
It is very important not to just take care of your lenses, the cases are also important and when you take proper care of them, you’d be taking care of your eyes too.
For your lenses:
● Don’t touch them if your hands are wet or dirty.
● When your hands are clean, you can rub the contacts with your fingers, use the solution to rinse them and soak them.
● Use disinfectants to disinfect. Some people use other non-recommended substances to try to do it.
● Keep your solution safe. Rightly closed when not using it and avoid touching any surface with it.
For the case:
Two key points here: Keep it clean using sterile solutions for contact lenses and replace the case every 3 months or sooner if it breaks or gets damaged.
A little bit easier, right? For further recommendations, get in touch with an expert here.