Contact Lens Wear And Care
Wearing Contact Lenses
Contact lenses are among the safest forms of vision correction when you follow proper care and wearing instructions provided by your optometrist. However, when you do not use lenses as directed, the consequences may be dangerous and could be damaging to your eyes.
Contact lenses and the multi-purpose solutions used with them are medical devices and are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. Therefore, it is extremely important that you maintain regular eye care appointments to ensure you are receiving clinical guidance from your optometrist based on your individual eye health needs.
Clean and safe handling of contact lenses is one of the most important measures you can take to protect your sight. Exercising optimal care and hygiene with contact lenses will help keep your eyes healthy.
When wearing your contact lenses:
- DO remove your lenses immediately if you experience eye discomfort, excessive tearing, vision changes, redness of the eye, or any other problems, and promptly contact your optometrist.
- DO apply contact lenses before applying makeup. It is also important to take out the contact lenses prior to removing makeup.
- DON’T wear your lenses beyond the prescribed wear schedule as serious complications may occur, including vision loss.
- DON'T touch your lenses with your fingernails and never use tweezers or other tools to remove lenses from the lens case unless specifically indicated for that use.
- DON'T use lenses if damaged or if the sterile blister package is opened or damaged.
- DON'T expose contact lenses to any water. Exposing contact lenses to water may increase the risk of severe eye infection that could lead to vision loss or blindness.
- DON’T wear someone else's contact lenses.
- Always thoroughly wash and dry your hands before handling contact lenses.
- Carefully and regularly clean contact lenses as directed. Rub contact lenses with your fingers and rinse thoroughly before soaking lenses overnight in sufficient recommended multi-purpose solution completely covering the lenses.
- Store lenses in the proper lens storage case and replace the case every month. Clean the case after each use and keep it open and dry between cleanings.
- Use only products recommended by your optometrist to clean and disinfect your lenses. Saline solution and re-wetting drops are not designed to disinfect lenses.
