Caring for Your Contacts: 3 Rules You May Not Know

If you wear contact lenses, you know the general rules: wash your hands, rub and rinse your lens, insert. But did you know that there are some other rules you should also follow when it comes to your contact lens’ use? Even if you’ve been using contact lenses for years, here are three rules you may not know:

1) Change Your Lens Case

How long have you been using the contact lens case you just used this morning? Many people never change their contact lens case, but if you’ve been using yours more than just three months, its time to start using a new one.  Lens cases have the potential to contaminate your contact lenses and infect your eyes, according to the American Optometric Association. Make sure that you also clean your lens case everyday using sterilized solution, allowing the case to air dry, preferably upside down so the cavities don’t collect debris.

2) Put Your Contact Lenses in BEFORE You Put On Makeup.

Putting your makeup on before you put in your contacts can cause irritating particles to get trapped between your lens and your eye when you put in the contact. Make sure that you put your contacts in before you put on makeup, especially eye makeup. At the end of the day, you should also take your contacts out before you take off your makeup to prevent getting any on the lens during the removal process. You may also want to avoid makeup with glitter and hard pencil eyeliners; opt for a soft pencil instead.

3) Only Use Recommended Solution

Don’t use sterilized saline solution to clean or store your contact lenses in. Always use the multipurpose solution recommended by your optometrist.  Don’t top off the solution in your lens case. You should always dump out the solution in your contact case from the day before and replace it with new (which you would have to do anyway, if you’re cleaning your case daily as recommended). And make sure that you always close the cap to your solution, no matter what kind of hurry you’re in.

Closing the cap ensures that you’re keeping your solution sterile.

Making sure that you know and follow all the recommendations for contact use will help ensure that your eyes are healthy and that you can continue wearing contact lenses. Always make sure that you follow the recommendations of your optometrist when it comes to the replacement schedule of your lenses, as well as their recommendations about solution.