Contact Lens Care: Top 10 Tips

Contact lens can radically alter your vision and appearance. But for maintaining the health of your eyes and protecting your vision you need proper contact lens care.

For your prescription, you will need to visit your eye care professional. Your professional will instruct you correctly on contact lens care. Additionally, you can also educate yourself by reading articles on the internet for more tips.

Many lens providers give a detailed booklet along with the lenses. Read the booklet thoroughly and understand what needs to be done. Remember, care for your contacts is not standard. Different lens require different regimen.

Here are some tips for contact lens care:

1. Before handling your contact lens, wash your hands thoroughly with a mild soap. Rinse them well before drying your hands with a lint free towel. Make sure that your hands are free from contaminants and dust at all Never use cold cream, cosmetics, face powder or lotions just before handling.

2. Never use your nails to handle your lens. Always ensure you use your finger tips. Keep your nails short and with no jagged ends.

3. After removal, your lens must be thoroughly cleaned, rinsed and disinfected. The solutions used must be approved by the FDA and manufactured by reputable companies. Remember your eyes are irreplaceable so never compromise on the quality of the solutions. Ensure you clean your lens immediately after you remove them.

4. The contact lens care solution must be fresh, not expired and follow carefully the chemical system of sterilization. Discard any solution that is beyond the expiration date.

5. Do not use saliva or tap water for re-wetting. Saliva can spread infection while tap water has chlorine and other chemicals that are harmful.

6. Rinse your lens case with solutions recommended by your eye care professional and according to the manufacturers guidelines. Use only solutions intended for usage and never reuse your solutions.

7. Use fresh solution each time you place your lens in a storage case. Do not "top off." "Topping off" is adding a little more solution to the solution that is already in the case.

8. Never leave your lens exposed to air or dust. When you are not using them, keep them immersed in the disinfecting solution and ensure that you close the storage case tightly to avoid any dust particles falling into the solution.

9. A new lens case should be used with each new bottle of solution for proper contact lens care.

10. Replace your contacts as recommended by your eye care professional as well as the manufacturer of the lens.

If you experience any problems with your vision, remove your lens and consult your eye care professional right away. Discomfort can be an early sign of a more serious complication, and early treatment can have a significant impact on overcoming problems associated with improper contact lens care.

Clean and safe handling of contact lenses is one of the most important measures wearers can take to protect their sight. Just follow the above mentioned tips to help avoid any adverse events.