Let’s talk about your eyeballs. And the things you may be doing that may go wrong with them! If you are one of the approximately 125 million people around the world who wear contacts, chances are you may have one or two bad contact lens habits that can seriously affect the health of your eyes. So, to prevent further damage to your eyes and your contact lenses, check out the top things you need to stop doing today!
- Wearing Contacts Without Washing: When you handle your lenses without washing your hands first, you are transferring all the dirt and bacteria on to the lenses, allowing them to move around in your eyes and cause damage.
- Moistening Contact Lenses Using Water, Saliva or Any Other Non-Sterile Solution. Any fluid that is not sterilized could be adulterated with contaminants, so it is advised you only use a lens solution as prescribed or recommended by your optometrist.
- Sleeping While Wearing Your Contact Lenses: While some lenses are designed to be worn during nighttime, they generally shouldn’t be worn while sleeping, not even for 20 minutes. Doing so can cause pink eye, dryness or keratitis, a vision threatening infection.
- Wearing Contacts For Longer Than Required: There is a reason why these lenses are termed for ‘daily’, ‘weekly’ and ‘monthly’ use. Going beyond this limit can encourage the growth of parasites in your eyes, causing you to lose an eye in the worst case scenario.
- Rubbing Your Eyes With The Contacts On: Rubbing your eyes even in the absence of contacts is bad as it can make the cornea lose its round shape and become conical. With lenses on, you are only worsening the situation, which may result in blurry vision in the long run, or worse still, the need for a transplant.
- Reusing The Contact Lens Solution: A contact lens solution is supposed to be disposable, not to be used again and again. This means that for every application, fresh solution should be used. It is also recommended that you change the solution case every couple of months or so for best results.
- Sharing Contact Lenses With Others: This is especially true for colored lenses which are typically circulated around in teenagers. Doing so is a big no-no as this can result in loss of vision and transfer one’s germs to the other.
- Going Into Water With Your Contacts On: Moist places, such as the shower, swimming pool, hot tub, sauna, or other water body can have amoebae and bacteria that can damage your eyes if you fail to disinfect your lenses properly before wearing them. A serious disease, known as Acanthamoeba keratitis, can even result in vision loss and permanent blindness.
- Failing to Clean Your Lenses Everyday: Debris, bacteria, and protein can collect on your contact lenses and cause problems like giant papillary conjunctivitis, where millions of tiny bumps can form on the eyelids.
- Leaving Makeup On Your Lenses: If you get a speck of eye makeup on your lenses, wash and disinfect them immediately.
