Tips On Keeping A Healthy Cornea While Wearing Contact Lenses

Oxygen is an exceptionally important factor when it comes to long-term eye health. Contact lenses sit or 'float' on a thin layer of moisture above the cornea (the transparent, convex covering on the outer eye) and require oxygen in order to stay moist and comfortable. As you can imagine, contact lenses obstruct this flow and with extended wear the result can be itchy, dry eyes. Continued oxygen deficiency can even lead to more chronic ocular problems. Keeping a healthy cornea while wearing contact lenses is not a difficult task. In addition to products such as 're-wetting tears' which provide moisture to soft contacts and soothe the eyes, a little common sense can go a long way to protecting the health of your cornea and your eyes. And just in case you find yourself a little devoid of common sense right now, we've assembled a few handy hints and tips to keep in mind.

• Always wash your hands before handling your lenses.
  
• Conversely, never wash or rinse your lenses with tap water. It contains potentially harmful bacteria and chemicals.
  
• Similarly, never 'clean' your lenses with saliva. The human mouth is not a particularly hygienic place and so too, the bacteria that exists therein can be harmful to your eyes.
  
• Follow a careful, planned care regime. Clean, disinfect and store your lenses properly.
  
• Periodically visit your eye care specialist for a check-up.
  
• Never share lenses with anyone else. This applies to all contact lenses, but is especially relevant to cosmetic and 'special effect' lenses where the novelty of such devices can cause people to ask to 'try them out.'
  
• Swimming while wearing contact lenses is not advisable, however, should you do so, disinfect the lenses as soon as possible afterwards.

Additionally, contact lens manufacturers are finding more and more ways to improve the flow of oxygen to the eye. Soft contact lenses fare much better in this regard than do gas permeable lenses. Moreover, eye care products such as CIBA Vision's O2Optix utilize a material known as lotrafilcon B to allow up to five times more oxygen through than do normal lenses. The above are but a smattering of tips and hints, and of course there exist a myriad other ways to protect (and hurt) your eyes. Just be sure to remember one thing above all else: your eyes are precious so it's always better to be safe than sorry.

What certainly won't do your eyes any harm, and neither will it hurt your wallet, are the extensive range of ophthalmic products available via the links on the right.

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