5 Common Contact Lens Mistakes

A few weeks ago, I read a story about how many things you should not do when you are wearing contact lenses. I have been wearing contact lenses for over 20 years and there were a few things on the list that I do but I should not be doing. It is so important to make sure you properly taking care of your contact lenses and your eyes. Below are some of the things that I needed to change to make sure I am taking better care of my eyes.

5 Tips To Protect Your Eyes:

Extending the usage time of your contact lenses – I am very guilty of this. I need to make sure I add a note to my calendar every 2 weeks to switch out my contact lenses. Don’t wait until they become bothersome to change them.

According to the American Eye-Q® survey, 59 percent of contact lens wearers admit wearing their disposable contact lenses longer than the suggested duration. Not following an eye doctor’s recommended changing schedule can cause permanent eye damage from bacterial infections and oxygen deprivation. In fact, a recently released Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study found that nearly one- third of contact lens wearers report going to the doctor for red or painful eyes related to wearing contact lenses.

Removing contact lenses before exposing them to water –  Have you even taken a shower or gone swimming while wearing your contact lenses? I know I have many times because I didn’t realize that this could cause an infection.

Wash and Dry your hands before removing your lenses – When I take my contact out at night, I am already pretty much exhausted. I don’t want to have to do another step to get my contact lenses out of my eyes.  But this simple and quick step can easily prevent an eye infection.

You should regularly use cleaning solution to rub the lenses with fingers and rinsing thoroughly before soaking lenses overnight in a sufficient multi-purpose disinfectant solution.  Don’t ever re-use your solution!

Schedule your annual contact lens and eye examinations with your eye doctor. Many times my prescription has changed so after my eye appointment, I can see better!

Visit American Optometric Association to see more tips about proper care for your contact lenses.

I love the ability to wear contact lenses. Contact lenses are among the safest, most popular forms of vision correction used by adults and children. Today, nearly 41 million adults in the U.S. (more than one in ten people) and 125 million people worldwide wear contact lenses.

Make sure you don’t make these mistakes when it comes to your eyes. Use your lenses as directed by an eye doctor or the consequences can be dangerous and can even damage the eyes, potentially causing long-term problems with vision and eye health.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.