Modern-day contact lenses are relatively safe to wear and maintain, unlike it was years back. Regardless, it’s still quite important to be aware of certain things if you’re a contact lens wearer or hope to be one soon. Ensuring your eyes are in perfect condition, and are free from infections is an important reason to establish some essential tips for usage. If you want to maintain stellar eye health while allowing your contacts to serve their purpose daily or monthly if you use UK monthly contact lenses, here are five necessary things every contact lens wearer must know.
Sleeping with contacts is damaging.
More often than not, sleeping with contacts is the most common mistake that most users make. Though some contact lenses are designed to be used at nighttime, others aren’t. Using contact lenses that aren’t explicitly designed for nighttime reduces the amount of oxygen your eye needs at night. Likewise, since contaminants will most likely get into the contacts during the day, they’ll affect you at night while the contacts are pressed on your cornea. In fact, there’s a propensity for bacteria and viruses to grow and breed, thereby causing infections. We looked at the technical specifications – the water content, availability of a UV block, oxygen transmission, wetting properties and material. On the prescription side, we looked at the powers that are available and overall size, and fitting characteristics – prescription
Swimming with your contacts isn’t advisable.
Water generally contains many microorganisms that get trapped in the contact lenses. Naturally, the result is some form of eye infection. Therefore, allowing your contacts to touch any water puts you at risk. Activities like swimming and showering with contacts are not advised because they can also lead to irritation and some potentially eye-damaging conditions such as corneal ulcer 2. If you have to work in or with water for some reason, it’s important to talk to your eye doctor about a suitable prescription, preferably daily disposable lenses.
Too much sunlight is damaging.
Just like your skin, too much sunlight on your contact lenses may result in an eye infection. That’s why it’s always advisable to have a pair of sunshades on when under direct sunlight. Some manufacturers may claim to include UV protection in their lenses, but this is not a substitute for protecting your eyes a little more. Exposure to excessive sunlight may also result in solar crystalline lens, which is also known as cataracts. There are also other eye conditions like corneal and conjunctival lens damage, which are UV-related.
Contact lens case hygiene is quite important.
Besides maintaining good hygiene with the actual contact lenses, many people skive off maintaining proper hygiene with their contact lenses case. As a result, they still end up with irritations, infections, and possibly, vision problems. It’s important to wash your hands with soap and water before handling your case. Also, remember to wash your case with contact lens solution after using it. Putting your case in a less humid environment makes a big difference and prevents you from getting an infection.
Touching your eyes can result in an infection.
Studies have shown that contact lenses wearers have more bacteria on their eyelids than people who don’t wear them. More importantly, the bacteria found on their eyes are more skin-associated bacteria than those normally found. These results suggest that contact lens wearers are more prone to introducing bacteria when they touch their eyes than others. It’s important to refrain from touching your eyes during the day to avoid getting infections or damaging eye conditions.
