Always wash your hands with warm water and soap before handling your contact lenses or before touching your eyes. Any residue from lotions, soaps, or chemicals may stick to the contact lens, causing pain, irritation, or blurred vision when they are in your eyes. Dry your hands with a clean towel.
Wear your contact lenses as prescribed. Your schedule is specific to the type of contact lens that have been selected and are specific to YOU. Only wear your contact lenses for the time recommended.
Clean and store your contact lenses as prescribed (in a clean case in fresh solution). Different types of contact lenses require special care and certain types of products. Always use the eye care products recommended by your Optometrist. Some eye products or eye drops are not safe for contact lens wearers.
Clean your contact lens case after each use with sterile solution and leave it to air dry.
Never use plain water directly on your contact lenses, and never put your contact lenses in your mouth to “rinse” them. Microorganisms can live in even distilled water, causing infection or sight damage.
Clean your contact lens by rubbing it gently with your index finger in the palm of your hand.
If you develop any eye irritation (signs include redness, burning, or excessive tearing, dryness, grittiness or soreness), remove your contact lenses and discontinue use until you talk with your Optometrist. Wearing a contaminated pair of contact lenses will invite the infection to remain. After resuming contact lens use, closely follow your optometrist’s instructions to help prevent future complications.
Never wear another person’s contact lenses. Using other people’s contact lenses can spread any infection or particles from their eyes to yours.
Wearing contact lenses may cause your eyes to become more sensitive to sunlight. Wear sunglasses with total UV protection and/or a wide brim hat when in the sun.
Do not sleep with your contact lenses in your eyes unless you are prescribed “Extended Wear” contacts and have consulted your optometrist! While the eyes are shut, tears cannot carry healthy amounts of oxygen to the eye, like during the waking hours. As a result, your contact lenses will become dry and stick to your eyes. If you accidentally do fall asleep with your contact lenses in, be sure to put artificial tears in your eyes and wait a few minutes before trying to remove your contact lenses.
See your Optometrist annually/six monthly to check your contact lens prescription, depending on your Optometrist’s advice.
Visit your therapeutic optometrist immediately if you have any degree of sudden vision loss, blurred vision, light flashes, eye pain, infection, swelling, unusual redness, dryness or irritation.
When first wearing contact lenses you may be concerned about accidentally wearing them inside out. If this happens, they cannot damage your eyes, but they will be uncomfortable. To avoid this, place your contact lens on the tip of your finger so that it is forming a cup. Look at the contact lens from the side. If the cup looks like it is flaring out at the top and has a lip, your contact lens is inside out. If it looks like the letter “U”, the contact lens is right side out.
Put in your contact lenses before applying makeup to avoid contaminating your contact lens. When removing your makeup be sure that you wash and dry your hands. Once you have done this, remove your contact lenses and then remove your makeup.
Don’t let the tip of solution bottles touch other surfaces, including your fingers, eyes or contact lenses. The solution can become contaminated.