Proper Contact Lens Care
Properly caring for your contacts will ensure that your eyes remain healthy and comfortable while you wear contact lenses. Following the cleaning regimen provided by your eye care practitioner and only wearing your contacts for the prescribed amount of time is the best way to reduce your risk of eye irritation and infection.
Daily Cleaning and Storage
Cleaning your contacts on a daily basis and storing them in fresh solution is the first step to maintaining your lenses. Thanks to the one-bottle care systems that are available today, caring for your lenses takes less time, has fewer steps and is less expensive than it did years ago. For daily cleaning simply follow this recommended cleaning technique:
- Remove one lens and place it in the palm of your hand.
- Gently rub the lens with your index finger with a few drops of solution.
- Place lens in case with fresh solution.
- Repeat steps 1 through 3 with the second lens.
It is important to rub you lenses clean even if you are using a “No Rub” solution to ensure that build-up and debris are removed from the lenses regularly. Always use fresh solution with your lenses. Never reuse old solution to clean or store your contacts.
Choosing the Right Solution
Your eye care practitioner will most likely suggest a brand and type of contact solution for you to use. It is important to keep in mind that different types of lenses may require special care steps and specific types of products. Additionally, some eye products and eye drops may not be safe to use with your contact lenses.
Understanding the difference between a multipurpose solution and saline solution will ensure that your contacts remain clean and disinfected. Multipurpose solution contains all the ingredients that are needed to clean, disinfect, and store your lenses in one bottle. Multipurpose solutions also enhance protein removal and wetting ability. Saline solution is often purchased by wearers because it is cheaper; however, it supports microbial growth and does not contain any disinfecting ingredients.
When using your lens solution, be careful not to touch the tip of the bottle come in contact with other surfaces such as your fingers or contacts because exposure to these surfaces may contaminate your bottle of solution.
Your Contact Lens Case
You should clean your contact lens case daily with sterile solution or with hot tap water and allow it to air dry while you where your contacts. It is good practice to replace your lens case every 3 to 6 months.
Applying and Removing Contacts
Always be sure to wash and dry (with a lint free towel) your hands thoroughly prior to handling your lenses. Keep in mind that residue from lotions, soaps or other chemicals may stick to lens and can cause eye irritation.
Before applying or removing your contact lenses, check to see whether it is your right or left lens. Many contact lens wearers have different prescriptions for each eye. It is important that you make sure that they are right side out. The lens should look like a cup while sitting on your finger. If the lens looks like a “U” or a rimmed bowl, it is wrong side out and needs to be switched. Although putting your contact in wrong side out will not harm your eye, it can cause irritation and may negatively affect your vision while the lens is in.
It is generally a good idea to put your contacts on prior to applying make-up to prevent make-up from getting on your lenses. You should also remove contacts prior to showering or swimming because microorganisms found in tap water can cause eye irritation and infections.
Another important aspect of caring for your contact lenses is to visit your eye care practitioner at least once a year to have your vision and lens prescription checked. If you are interested in learning more about the type of lens you have been prescribed, take a look at the article Contact Lens Types. Not exactly sure which contacts you’ve been prescribed? Review the article Understanding Your Contact Lens Prescription to learn how to interpret your prescription.