|
Contact lens care
How can you correctly do contact lens care? First
it's most important to follow the instructions of your eye doctor for how long you use your contact
lenses before replacing them with another pair, also for contact lense care, and how to wear your
contact lenses. It's a bad idea to use the same pair of contact lenses longer than your eye doctor
prescribes. Also, remember to visit your eye doctor for regular checkups and follow-up eye care.
Why is contact lens care so vital? Because improper contact lens care can
contribute to contamination of your contact lenses, and to various eye complications including
pain, light sensitivity, red eye, tearing, sudden changes in your vision, and infections that may
lead to blindness.
In general there are two basic kinds of contacts: soft contact lenses and
rigid gas permeable or rgp lenses. Contact lense care is a bit different for these two general
types of contact lenses. We will review soft contact lens care here. See below for links to more
articles on contact lens care and product overviews.
Soft Contact Lens Care
Soft contact lens care begins with washing your hands with fragrance free
soap, and thoroughly drying your hands with a lint free towel. Perfumed soap can be harmful to
your contact lens and your eye, and it's important to remove any particles, viruses, and bacteria
from your hands before handling your contact lenses.
Clean contact lens
Carefully take out one contact lens and clean it with a daily cleaner, multipurpose
solution, or contact lens specific hydrogen peroxide solution for cleaning and/or disinfecting
contact lenses. Check your contact lens packaging for the best approach to contact lense care for
your contact lens model.
How these products work can vary. With some you will need to place the contact
lens in the palm of your hand, along with a couple drops of cleaner and gently rub these together.
Others, primarily no-rub multi-purpose or no-rub hydrogen peroxide solutions, take the work out
of the process and do the “scrubbing” on their own.
Rinse contact lens
Next, rinse the contact lens using the appropriate product, usually a saline
or multipurpose solution. This will take away the cleaner and any particles that have been separated
from the contact lens. Remember to follow the directions on the rinsing product's packaging, especially
when it comes to how long you rinse your contacts.
Disinfect contact lens
After rinsing the contact lens, put it into its case with the correct disinfecting
solution for your contact lenses. This critical step kills harmful microorganisms, like viruses
and bacteria, on your contact lenses. The amount of time it takes to complete this process can
vary from disinfecting product to product. Once again, the product's package is your best guide.
These kinds of products include hydrogen peroxide solutions, multi-purpose solutions, and combination
cleaning and disinfecting devices.
Repeat these steps for your other contact lens.
As you may have noticed, there are contact lense care products that cover
more than one step in the process, cleaning and disinfecting together in one step. This can save
both time and money. Check your contact lens packaging for compatible products, and or check with
your eye doctor for proper contact lens care for your model of contacts.
|
