Contact lenses can cause damage to your eyes leaving a permanent decrease in your vision. These events are relatively rare and can be minimized by following the advice given below.
Wash your hands before touching your eyes or the contact lenses. Rinse well afterwards to avoid getting soap in your eye.
Remove your lenses in case of a red eye. Contact lenses increase the risk of infection by decreasing the effectiveness of some of your eyes natural defense mechanisms. If you remove your lenses the eye should be noticeably clearer within 2 hours. If this is not the case you should seek immediate medical care. Some types of infection can cause significant damage in less than 24 hours.
Put your lenses on before applying eye make up or lotion.
Do Not Swim In Your Lenses. Contact lenses are like a sponge. They soak up and retain whatever they come into contact with. This means pool chlorine, pool acid, algaecide and other “stuff” that gets into swimming pools. In addition most water harbors microorganisms that can cause permanent vision damage.
Always rub lenses with no rub solution. The “No Rub” feature of many modern solution systems rely on the user squirting the lens for 5 seconds on each side. Since no one actually does this, it is important to rub the lens 10 seconds on a side to remove loose protein and debris from the lens. This improves disinfection by reducing the biological load on the lens and improves the ability of cleaners in the system to remove stubborn deposits. Studies have shown that rubbing can reduce the bacterial load on a lens by 80%.
Hard or Gas Permeable Lens Wearers can decrease the risk of contracting waterborne diseases by rinsing your lenses using a sterile non preserved canned saline such as Lens Plus saline and then storing the lenses in approved soaking solution for your lens type.
Keep your case clean. After inserting your lenses the case should be rinsed with hot water and left open to air dry. This kills many of the bacteria that can cause an infection. A good practice is to scrub your case with a tooth brush reserved for the purpose once a week. And replace the case no less than once every 3 months.
Use fresh solution every night. After placing your lenses into a clean dry case, cover the lenses completely with fresh solution. It is not necessary to completely fill the case.
Keep Follow-up Appointments. A contact lens fitting involves selecting an appropriate lens product and then observing the effect this lens has had on the cornea. Whenever we change lens types we will schedule a follow-up visit to observe any problems the lens may be causing on the surface of your eye. It is best if the lens has been on for several hours before this visit. In addition it is better to have used this lens for at least a week (except for one day products) before the visit. By observing the deposits that will have formed on the lens I may be able to adjust your cleaning regimen to improve lens performance. Always wear an older pair of lenses to an annual exam so that I can observe the lens in its natural state.
Keep to the prescribed wearing schedule. In the design of a contact lens the engineer weighs the durability and the ability of the lens to stay clean against the ability of the lens to transmit oxygen. Thinner high oxygen transmission lenses provide improved comfort but can attract more protein to the surface of the lens and are more prone to mechanical damage. The wear schedule is based on these considerations and testing performed to obtain FDA approval for the lens.
Do not sleep in lenses unless you have a specific wear schedule from the doctor. While many lenses have been approved by the FDA for extended wear it is important for the doctor to assess the impact of extended wear on your eye since not everyone can tolerate extended wear. To do this I will typically have you wear the lens on an extended wear basis and then based on the amount of debris building up behind the lens, the rate of protein deposition on the lens and the overall appearance of your cornea, I will make a recommendation for an extended wear schedule.
If you are having any problems with your contact lenses you should call the office for advice at 510-769-2020.
Thank-you for choosing Alameda Eyes Optometry for your vision care. We hope to make your contact lens experience safe, comfortable and of course clear.
