Do you wear scleral, hybrid, rigid gas permeable, or soft contact lenses? Here are our top five recommendations for anyone who wears any type of contact lenses.
PREP: Always wash your hands prior to handling your contact lenses or touching your eyes. If you can wash your hands with clear soap (instead of ones with moisturizers or bar soap), and dry with a lint-free cloth, all the better!
REST: Try NOT to wear your lenses for a minimum of 2 hours daily (when you are awake). Wearing lenses reduces oxygen to the eye. It is recommended to remove your lenses when you get home at the end of the day and wear your glasses to give your eyes a chance to receive extra oxygen before going to bed. If you cannot see well with glasses this may be difficult. This is why we recommend removing lenses when you are doing tasks that do not require sharp vision (such as getting prepared for bed, or watching a re-run of The Office).
REMOVE: Never sleep in your contact lenses. Sleeping in contact lenses greatly increases your chance of an eye infection. Because contact lenses reduce oxygen to the eye, if lenses are worn overnight with eyes closed, the cornea starts to swell and you can wake up with blurry vision.
AVOID: Do not swim, shower, or go in hot tubs or steam rooms with your contact lenses on, and do NOT use water to rinse the case or your lenses. This increases your risk for water-borne infections which can be severe. Just google "acanthamoeba infection" if you want to see what I mean.
STORAGE: If you wear any type of Soft Contact Lenses, rinse with contact lens solution and dry your contact lens case out daily. Be sure to change your case out monthly for maximum cleanliness.
Hope these tips help! If you want more tips, follow us on instagram at @eyesplain (https://www.instagram.com/eyesplain/)
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