Four Basic Steps In Contact Lens Care

Some may find all the guidelines and tips for contact lens care confusing. Due to this, they might end up not doing anything at all. To make things simpler, in contact lens care you there are four basic steps.

1. Cleaning. Before or after you use your contact lens, it is still of utmost importance that you clean it. Remember that the contact lens is a foreign body and unlike your eyes, it is totally made of a different material and can be exposed to microorganisms.

In cleaning your contact lenses, do not use tap water because tap water contains a lot of impurities and other minerals that can damage the surface of the lens as well as cause some eye irritation. It is also not a good idea to wash your contact lens with tap water because you can easily lose your lenses in the sink.

Furthermore, it is also not advisable to put your lenses inside your mouth to clean it because your mouth contains a lot of microorganisms that can be harmful for your eyes. To clean your lenses, use the prescribed cleaning solution.

2. Disinfecting. Cleaning is as simple as rinsing it; doesn't necessarily mean killing the microorganisms that could be found on the surface of the lenses. Keep in mind that not all microorganisms are harmless. These may be invisible to the naked eye but these organisms are capable of causing havoc in the body especially your eyes. Keep in mind that eye infections can also result to blindness.

If you are wondering how to disinfect your contact lenses, all you have to do is buy the prescribed disinfecting solution for your lenses. Disinfecting solutions contain chemical compounds that are capable of destroying disease causing microorganisms that may have attached to your contact lenses. It is important to disinfect your lenses because this will keep your eyes safe from all forms of infection.

3. Contact Lens Cases. Your contact lenses should be stored properly. The storage cases for your lenses should be disinfected as well because if you don't disinfect it you defeat the whole purpose of disinfecting your contact lenses. Contact lens cases should be cleaned or changed on a regular basis. It should also be tight enough to keep it from spilling easily. The cases should contain approved soaking solutions to keep the lenses moisturized and to keep it from drying out.

4. Rinsing. The solution used to soak your contact lenses may irritate your eyes so it is always best to rinse your lenses before you put it on. There are a lot of rinsing solutions for contact lenses available in the market but use the one that is recommended for the type of lens you are using.

Just like in cleaning do not use homemade saline solutions, distilled water or tap water in rinsing because these contain impurities that can cause eye irritation. Be careful when rinsing your lens because it might fall off your fingertip and you will end up losing it.