14 Biggest Blunders to avoid while With Your Contact Lenses

When it comes to contact lens care, you might focus on things like using the right solution in the right way. But what you might forget is that the solution has to sit in a contact lens case that needs regular cleaning and eventually replacement.

As Spirit Dental & Vision explains, there are some important dos and don’ts when cleaning your contact lens case. First, as we’ve stated, never use water from the faucet — or any plain water — to clean your contact lens case. This will help you avoid dangerous microbes. Instead, Spirit Dental & Vision recommends using your contact lens solution to clean your lens case and then wiping it with unused tissue. Second, if your contacts aren’t in the case, it’s better to take the lids off the case and turn it face down on a fresh tissue in a clean area. This will allow the case to safely air dry.

Besides exercising good lens case maintenance, Spirit Dental & Vision also recommends replacing your contact lens case four times a year. In other words, you should discard your case every three months. Otherwise, you risk bacteria getting into your case and interfering with how your contact lens solution works — or worse causing an infection in your eye.

(14) Sleeping while wearing your contacts

We’ve all been caught nodding off at inappropriate times. But if you wear contacts, you don’t want to make a habit of not removing your lenses before falling asleep.

As Dr. Jennifer Fogt, an associate professor in the College of Optometry at Ohio State University, told SELF, sleeping while wearing your contacts can lead to health issues. These include infections and dry eye, which can come with unpleasant symptoms like stinging and burning sensations in your eyes. In addition, Dr Corinne Casey, an optometrist with Katzen Eye Group, explained to SELF that the tear film that collects on contact lenses while they’re in your eyes is filled with allergens and microorganisms. And when you don’t remove your contact lenses and clean them, these microorganisms remain right up against your eyes while you sleep.

So, what should you do when that boring movie or lecture makes you doze off while wearing contacts? Well, the first thing is don’t try to quickly remove them from your eyes. As Dr. Beeran Meghpara, an eye surgeon at Wills Eye Hospital, told SELF, often contact lenses will become temporarily stuck to your eyes when you sleep in them. Dr Meghpara recommends using a little sterile contact lens solution in your eyes to help loosen up your lenses.

Credit: HealthDigest