Proper Contact Lens Care goes a long way in keeping eyes
healthy and vision sharp
Are your contact lenses irritating your eyes? Are you prone
to eye infections? Don't blame your contact lenses. The fault may
be in how you care for them. Proper contact lens care is key to
healthy eyes and good vision.
Step-by-step contact lens care
Your eyecare professional will show you how to care for your contact
lenses. In general, here are contact lens care guidelines to keep
in mind:
- Before handling your contact lenses, always wash your hands
with soap and water.
- When it's time to clean your contact lenses, remove one lens
and place it in the palm of your hand. Apply a few drops of cleaning
solution. Your doctor will recommend a solution that's right for
your contact lenses. Rub the solution on both sides of the lens
surface to remove deposits, debris, protein build-up, and bacterial
film. Removing these deposits will help improve your vision and
reduce your risk for eye infections.
- After cleaning the lens, rinse it with saline solution. Use
a saline solution recommended to you by your eyecare professional.
Homemade saline solutions should not be used!
- After cleaning and rinsing, the next step is to disinfect your
lenses. There are two lens care systems-heat and chemical disinfection.
The system you use depends on the type of contact lenses you have.
Your eyecare professional will recommend the best system for you.
Be prepared: Both heat and chemical disinfection systems require
several hours of disinfection time.
- After disinfecting your lenses, rinse each lens with your saline
solution before putting them back in your eyes.
It's more than just contact lens care
It's not just your contact lenses that require your attention.
Don't forget to clean your contact lens case, too. The case should
be rinsed with warm water and allowed to air dry. All contact lens
cases need to be cleaned frequently, including disposable lens cases.
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