Protecting your eyes is vital. If you choose to wear eye contact lenses, you must make sure that you take care of them. Improper care of contact lenses can damage your eyes and or your vision. Most contact wearers get disposable contacts; however, there are still people who wear non disposal contacts that need replacing once or twice a year; therefore, cleaning them is essential. It is also important that you consult an optometrist before putting anything in your eyes. Finding the correct products needed to care for you contacts is a little tricky. I find for myself that everyone has different ways of cleaning and storing their contact lenses. Therefore, I listed below the basic cleaning steps and concerns. As a contact wearer myself for over 30 years, I feel as though I am somewhat an expert on how to keep your contacts clean sine I have not had any vision damage or disease while wearing them.
Some ways to take care of yours vision are as follows:
Follow whatever instructions your physician advises.
Take contacts out of eyes per Doctor’s recommendations. (every night or once a week.)
Use only products that are FDA approved.
Do not use any kind of eye dropper products to clean your contacts.
Steps to care for contact lenses are as follows:
Wash your hands often so that you don’t get dirt and germs into your eyes.
Do not use deodorant soaps.
Dry your hands with a paper towel or with an air dryer before handling contact lenses.
Use the basic contact lens care kit which consists of a cleanser, a rinse and a disinfectant.
Do not put your lenses in your mouth to remove dryness or for storage.
Do not store your contacts in water.
Products that are available in the care of your contacts:
Eye Drops- Used to help with lens dryness and irritation while rehydrating your eyes.
Sensitive Eyes 3 in 1 solution- Used by people who have allergies and or sensitive eyes.
Multipurpose Solution- Use for cleaning, rinsing, disinfecting and storing your contact lenses.
Daily Cleaner- Used to clean contacts by putting the cleaner and the contact lens into the palm of your hand for 20 seconds.
Contact case- Used for storage of contact lenses over night.
Steps used when storing your contacts:
1. Remove one lens and clean it with the recommended solution.
2. Put the solution in the palm of your hand and rub the lens in the palm of your hand for thorough cleaning.
3. Rinse the lens again to remove debris.
4. Put the lens in your clean lens case or lens holder and fill it with fresh solution. ( Do not re-use solution) (Repeat steps 1-4 for other lens)
5. Do not fill solution to top of case because germs and bacteria could seep into case. Also, lens could get trapped under lid and rip or dry out.
6. Never leave the lens cap off when storing contacts.
7. Remove lenses daily due to protein buildup, which make the contacts feel dry and uncomfortable.