4 GROSS Mistakes Contact Lens Wearers Make

April 8th, 2016
woman inserting contact lens

When you first started wearing contacts, you were made aware of a few associated health hazards. After all, contacts ARE foreign objects in your eye. Unfortunately, not all contact lens wearers heed their doctor’s instructions about the dangers of wearing contacts too long or not cleaning them frequently enough (or at all!). GROSS. Hello, Pink Eye! Double GROSS.

After a late night out, it’s tempting to just fall into bed and go to sleep with your contacts still in. Bad idea! Taking your contacts in and out with unwashed hands? Also a bad idea. Swimming in your contacts. Even worse. Here’s why:

A study conducted by NYU Langone Medical Center found that people who wear contacts have different types of bacteria in their eyes than do non-users. In fact, contact lens wearers had higher numbers of four different disgusting species – and one in particular (Pseudomonas) – has been linked to corneal ulcers.

Because the bacteria identified commonly emanate from the skin, it is especially important for contact lens wearers to pay extra attention to hand hygiene.

  1. First Clean Your Hands, Then Clean the Lenses. You should always wash your hands with soap before you handle your contacts. Okay, now you can place the contact in the squeaky clean palm of your freshly-washed hand, followed by some cleaning solution. Gently rub the solution into the lens.
  1. Never Swim with Contacts In! No, really. Never. Pool water can be brimming with infectious bacteria just looking for something to infect. GROSS.
  1. People Need Rest. So Do Contact Lenses. Experts recommend limiting your contact lenses to 12-14 hours a day at the most. You might consider wearing your contacts for your work day and then switching to glasses at home and on weekends.
  1. Consider Disposable Contacts. If you know you’re a bit of a rebel (or just lazy) where rules are concerned, you might consider a daily disposable soft lens contact. There’s only so much bacteria that can get into the eye when you are using brand new contacts every day.d

Maybe it’s time to start thinking about LASIK from Kleiman|Evangelista Eye Center?

CONTACT us now.

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