Wearing contact lenses instead of eyeglasses can bring many benefits. People find that contact lenses are actually convenient to use.

However, before one gets himself a pair of contact lenses it is necessary that he consults a reputable eye care professional such as ophthalmologists about it. This is because one cannot just buy whichever pair of contact lenses they fancy – his vision correction needs must first be assessed by the doctor before the appropriate contact lenses may be prescribed.

More importantly, the regimen which the person might need will also depend upon the type of contact lenses that the doctor will prescribe which, in turn, depend on the vision impairment of the patient.

Safety Tips on Wearing Contact Lens

When a person already has a prescribed pair, he only needs to visit a reputable eye care professional regularly to have a complete eye examination. The interval between visits may vary, depending on the directions of the eye care professional.

One must make sure that he only uses contact lenses that are approved by the appropriate national regulating body and prescribed by an ophthalmologist or an optometrist.

The lens wearer must also follow the directions such as the proper cleaning and rinsing directions to avoid eye infections, as contact lens cases can be a source of bacterial growth. Thus, contact lenses should be cleansed, rinsed and disinfected after and before being worn again. In this connection, one should know the solutions he uses on his pair. He must only use the solutions provided by his eye doctor, for not all solutions can be mixed and not all can be used for all types of contact lenses.

Lastly, it is probably not necessary to remind wearers to wash their hands before handling the lenses, for the hands can carry bacteria which can infect the eyes.

What to Avoid

There are also certain things which a lens wearer should not do. For example, he should not swap his contact lenses with another person. This is extremely unsafe, unhealthy and unsanitary. This could lead to various eye infections being passed on from person to person. A lens wearer should also refrain from wearing their lenses longer than prescribed.

Contacts wear out in time, especially those disposable ones, and they must be replaced as soon as their recommending wearing period has expired.

In addition, a person must not sleep with their contact lenses on unless he is otherwise directed. Sleeping with the contact lenses has led many people to get serious eye injuries which could lead to blindness.

A lens wearer should not try to brave any irritation that he feels – he must remove the contact lenses immediately once he feels such irritation and consult his eye doctor immediately.

A lens wearer should never make use of saliva to clean his lenses, nor homemade saline that is not sterilized, distilled water, especially tap water for any part of his lens care routine. He must use only the solutions prescribed by his eye doctor.

Finally, he must not let the bottle of his contact lens solution touch any surface, including the contact lenses, for the solution can get contaminated.