15 Mar Contact Lens Habits That May Harm Your Vision

Your eyes are among the most delicate parts of your body, which is why you should exercise caution in inserting or removing contact lenses. Yet, many contact lens users do not take the necessary lens care precautions and end up harming their eyes. In this blog, we discuss a few contact lens habits that could be affecting your vision.

Bad Contact Lens Habits that May Harm Your Vision

1)   Having the Contacts in While Sleeping

This is the leading cause of corneal ulcers – a condition that can cause serious vision loss and necessitate a corneal transplant. Your cornea requires atmospheric oxygen because it lacks blood vessels. The cornea is already somewhat oxygen-deprived when the eyes are shut throughout the night – and when you add a contact lens to the mix, the oxygen deprivation strains the cornea to dangerous levels.

Since seeing is not a requirement while sleeping, it is prudent to take your contacts off before you hit the bed.

2)   Not Replacing Your Contacts

There are now three main schedules: daily, every two weeks, and every month. Dailies are meant to be used once and thrown away – not to be taken off and re-used. Likewise, two-week contacts must be discarded every fortnight since they start to accumulate protein and therefore cannot be cleaned. To get rid of protein buildup on monthly replacement contacts, they need to be cleaned every day (and once a week with enzymes).

If you don’t follow these schedules and take care of your lenses, you’re more likely to get an infection or irritation.

3)   Swimming With the Contacts On

Pool, salt, and fresh water can pose unique issues caused by chemicals or germs that can leach into your contact lenses.  If you really must wear them to stay safe in the water, remove them as soon as you are finished, and make sure to disinfect and clean them thoroughly.

Plus, this is also why you should never use tap water to clean contacts.

4)   Not Taking Out Contacts When Your Eyes Are Irritated

Contact lenses should not be painful. Remove your contact lenses immediately if you experience pain or discomfort since they may be damaged and pose a risk to your eyes. Alternately, the lens may include dirt or particles that can be eliminated using a solution rinse.

If you have allergies, you should probably avoid using contacts throughout the allergy season. Allergens like pollen and dander might attach themselves to your contact lenses and worsen your allergy symptoms.

Wrapping Up

As with most bodily parts and organs, practicing eye-care habits in the first place is better than trying to solve eye-related problems. That said, even if you have sustained vision issues resulting from contact lenses, we may be able to help get your eyes back to normal.

We are a comprehensive eye-care facility, and also perform Lasik and cataract surgeries. While these procedures are immensely helpful, many of our patients do quite well with a simple combination of glasses and contact lenses.

To learn more about our services and how we can help you, please feel free to get in touch today.