Wearing contact lenses is a great option for people who do not want to rely only on glasses for clear vision. Contacts are considered medical devices and do have risks associated with wearing them. To maintain healthy eyes, follow these helpful tips.
Whether you wear contacts every day, only a few days per week, or only for certain activities like sports, you should make a conscious effort to make sure everything possible is done to keep the eyes healthy.
How Long to Wear Contacts
For most people, contact lenses are ideally worn for an entire day to eliminate the need for wearing glasses throughout the day.
Most contact lenses will allow comfortable wear for up to ten or twelve hours, and some people are able to wear the lenses for even longer.
The key to knowing how long to wear the contacts is making sure you listen to your eyes and your doctor.
If the lenses are uncomfortable or vision becomes blurry, it may be time to take the contacts out for the day.
If your eye doctor recommends wearing contacts for a shorter length of time, then follow this recommendation to have the best outcome.
When to Replace Contacts
There are three different replacement schedules that are FDA approved for soft contact lenses. The lenses will either need to be replaced every day, every two weeks, or every month.
This is not a choice that you should make on your own but should abide by the FDA-approved schedule for the brand of lenses which you wear.
If you want to change how long you are able to wear the lenses before replacement, talk with your doctor about switching brands of contacts.
Daily contacts should be disposed of after a single day of wear as these lenses are thin and not durable enough to wear for multiple days.
Biweekly or monthly lenses should be replaced on the appropriate schedule to avoid the lenses gaining debris on them or possibly tearing or ripping.
How to Store Contact Lenses
When not wearing contact lenses, store the lenses in a case with a multipurpose solution. Always empty the solution from the case when you remove the contacts and put the fresh solution in before taking out the contacts.
The multipurpose solution should also be used to clean the lenses themselves daily before storing the lenses overnight in the solution.
Replace the contact lens case every three months or more frequently if the case becomes dirty.
Sleeping in Your Contact Lenses
One of the most important ways to maintain healthy eyes when wearing contact lenses is to not sleep in the lenses.
Instead of sleeping in the contacts, remove them before sleep each night to store them in the contact lens case.
What To Do if There is a Problem with Your Contacts
If you ever have a problem with your eyes or your contact lenses, contact your eye doctor to have them evaluate your eyes and make sure that there is no infection or damage to the eye.
Even when the contacts are worn properly and everything is done to maintain good eye health, it is possible for contact lenses to still cause eye problems.
These problems are best treated by an eye doctor and should be considered serious as the risk of losing vision is always present.