Contact Lenses and Your Eyes

January 11th, 2014

Many people choose to wear contact lenses for the convenience and the look.  When shopping for contact lenses, there are some things you may want to consider.

• Buy daily wear contact lenses.  You do not need to spend money on expensive solutions to clean them.  You get a new fresh pair every morning, and if they rip, you can throw them out without wasting a lot of money.  Also, when you go through airport security you do not have to worry about the liquid ban.  You just bring the amount of lenses for the number of days you will be away.  Some people think that the daily lenses are more expensive, but when you consider the convenience, and the cost of cleaning solution, dailies come out to be about the same cost.
• If you choose to use weekly or bi-weekly lenses, make sure you take them out and clean them EVERY day.  Bacteria can grow very quickly on dirty lenses.  If you leave them in, you are putting yourself at great risk for eye infections.
• Change the contact lens container at least every 2 weeks.  Harmful bacteria such as pseudomonas, which thrives in water, can cause corneal ulcers which can be permanent.  Even though you change the solution every day, the bacteria can remain in small crevices in the plastic.
• If your eyes start to become red, immediately remove the contact lenses, and flush your eyes out with saline.  If the redness does not improve, you need to see an eye care professional or your health care provider IMMEDIATELY!  Infections in the eye can develop rapidly and can cause permanent scarring or loss of vision.
• Do not wear contact lenses when you have an eye infection.  You should wait until 24 hours after the redness has completely disappeared.  You should dispose of any lenses that you may have been wearing when you first got the redness as these are now likely to be contaminated.  If you wear eye makeup, dispose of any mascara or eye pencils as these can reinfect the eye.
• Try to avoid rubbing your eye while wearing contacts lenses as that could cause the lenses to warp, fold up, or fall out of the eye.  Purchase a bottle of saline eye drops.  These are great to rinse out any debris or to relieve the gritty feeling you may get from wearing contacts. You should rinse your eyes at night after removing the lenses.
• During the summer, it is very important to wear sunglasses with contact lenses.  The wind and pollen in the air can accumulate on them.  Wearing sunglasses especially with wrap-around sides can prevent this from happening.
• Give your eyes a break.  Try to wear glasses for at least one day during the week.  Contact lenses may not correct your vision 100% as well as eyeglasses do.  As a result you may get some eyestrain from using them.
• Always have a pair of glasses handy.  If your eyes start to get irritated, you will need to take the contact lenses out and put glasses on to continue with your day.  Otherwise you will be debilitated for the rest of the day.
• BUY DAILY WEAR CONTACT LENSES!  Sorry, I can’t emphasize this point enough.  I’ve seen many infections in my practice and many of them could have been easily avoided if they had daily disposable lenses.