Contact lenses are an amazing convenience for the correction of your vision, however, they do require a bit more care and attention than glasses. Taking good care of your contact lenses is of utmost importance. How well you take care of your contact lenses reflects on the health of your eyes and keeping your eyes safe and healthy means keeping your contacts safe and healthy. If you do not adequately care for your soft contact lenses and use them properly it can put you at risk for eye infections. Contributing factors to eye infections with contacts include:
- Wearing your contact lenses for too long
- Environmental factors
- Poor hygiene
- Not properly storing your contact lenses
- Not properly cleaning your contact lenses
- Not washing your hands before putting your contact lenses in
Avoiding putting yourself at risk for an eye infection or painful and uncomfortable eye irritations is as easy as following proper lens care guidelines as prescribed by your optometrist at your DFW eye center. Different types of contact lenses can affect the risk level of eye infections. Using single-use daily disposable lenses is usually the safest bet when it comes to preventing your chances of eye infection and irritation, while rigid gas permeable lenses are the safest alternative to soft contact lenses of any type. Here at First Eye Care DFW our knowledgeable and caring team will be happy to help you decide which contact lenses work best for you and your eyes.
When it comes to caring for your eyes after leaving our vision center, there are certain guidelines to be followed regardless of the type of contact lenses you choose for the safety and health of your eyes and vision:
- Always wash your hands thoroughly with soap and warm water (for at least 20 seconds) before handling your contact lenses. Dry your hands with a lint-free towel to ensure you don’t get any lint in your eye during the application.
- Your best option is to keep your contacts away from water. This means removing them before going swimming or getting into a hot tub.
- You should not rinse your contact lenses with water, nor store them in water.
- Never use your saliva to wet your contact lenses.
- If your means is to disinfect your lenses, do not use saline solution or rewetting drops as they are not appropriate disinfectants.
- Your eye care professional will assign a schedule for the wearing and replacement of your lenses in which you should always make sure to follow.
- Your eye care professional will give you specific cleaning and storing instructions for your contact lenses in which you should make sure to follow.
- Using the “rub and rinse” method to clean your contact lenses is recommended by many experts. When cleaning your lenses, rub them with your fingers and then rinse them with solution before you soak them.
- Always rinse your contact lenses with fresh solution.
- You should always keep your contact lens case clean and remember that it should be replaced every three months.
Your eyes are sensitive, it is vital you take care of your them and that means taking care of your contact lenses. The best way to ensure your eyes are healthy is to regularly visit your eye doctor here at First Eye Care DFW. If you have any questions or would like to schedule an appointment, don’t hesitate to contact us today.