Happy Eyes

Healthy Eyes, Happy Lenses: A Guide to Maintaining Eye Health with Contact Lenses

Contact lenses provide an effective and convenient way to correct vision while maintaining an active lifestyle. To make sure your eyes stay healthy and in check, it’s imperative you adopt proper care and hygiene practices. Here we will explore some of the easiest ways to maintain good eye health while wearing contacts.

Following the guidelines below will help you get the most out of your contact lenses while keeping your eyes happy and healthy.

Speak to the Professionals

If you’ve been toying with the idea of wearing contact lenses, it’s always best to speak to an optician first before going any further. They are experts in the field and will assess your eyes and prescribe the most suitable type of lenses for your needs. This is important for ensuring your lenses fit correctly to allow optimal vision correction while lowering the risk of eye complications.

Once you’ve been given the green light by opticians, you may find you want to explore further and look at different brands. Lenstore can help you with this. They are specialists in all things contact lenses and sell products like Acuvue Oasys Max 1-day contact lenses that could be suitable for you.

Follow Robust Hygiene Practices

Maintaining excellent hygiene is crucial when it comes to wearing contact lenses. This involves washing your hands thoroughly with soap and water before handling your lenses. Make sure to avoid lotions or soaps that contain oils, fragrances, or moisturisers. Any of the three can leave residue on the lenses.

If you don’t follow good hygiene practices, you run the risk of dirt and harmful bacteria getting on your lenses. This cannot be seen with the naked eye, and you could be putting yourself at risk of developing eye problems as a result. If you find you’re getting soreness or itching, make sure to take your lenses out immediately.

Clean and Disinfect Regularly

You’ll be amazed at how many people forget to clean and disinfect their contact lenses regularly. If you’ve worn glasses in the past, you’ll always be cleaning them to make sure you can see through them. The same logic applies to your contacts. Cleaning and disinfecting them is essential for maintaining eye health.

Make sure you follow the guidelines given by your optician or the lens manufacturer. It’s advised to use a multipurpose solution specifically created for contact lenses to clean and disinfect them. Just avoid using tap water, salvia, or homemade solutions. These won’t be effective and could introduce harmful bacteria to your eyes.

Replace According to Schedule

This is an important one – make sure you never wear your contact lenses longer than their expiry date! It can be all too easy to pop a pair in and forget they’re even there. Unfortunately, the longer you leave them in, the more risk you’re at of getting an infection. Contact lenses have specific replacement schedules, so it’s your job to adhere to them.

Take time to read the instructions before using your contact lenses. There is even the risk of your lenses going behind the eye which can be incredibly painful. Also, replace your lenses as advised to maintain optimal eye health.

Avoid Sleeping with Lenses

After putting in your contact lenses in the morning, you may forget all about them within minutes. This means once it’s time for bed, you may climb under the duvet, close your eyes, and go off into a good night’s sleep. If there’s one error you will have made, it’s not taking your lenses out!

Sleeping with lenses in can expose your eyes to potential risks. When you sleep with them in, contact lenses lower the amount of oxygen that reaches your corneas. This can increase the risk of complications. Just make sure to get into the habit of taking them out before sleeping. You may benefit from setting a reminder on your phone until it becomes muscle memory.

Give Your Eyes a Break

If you’re new to wearing contact lenses, we appreciate you’ll want to keep them in and enjoy your newfound vision without glasses. However, you should factor in periods to take them out and give your eyes a break. Extended periods of wearing contact lenses can strain your eyes and affect your vision.

To prevent eye fatigue, when giving your eyes a break from contact lenses, switch back to a pair of glasses to reduce irritation. If you are in need of some new glasses you can get new lenses in the old frames that you love! as well as having breaks is a must. During these times, simply pop your glasses on instead. If you need to wear your lenses all day, look into using lubricating eye drops. Just ensure they’re approved for contact lens wearers to keep your eyes moist and prevent dry eyes.

There are an array of benefits to wearing contact lenses. While they have their advantages, making rookie errors can bring on eye conditions that can be incredibly sore. To keep your eyes in good health, make sure to follow our advice above.