One of the many questions people have about contact lenses is if they are safe to the eyes or not. Are you among those with this particular contact lenses question? Well, read on to find an answer to this pressing question and other important information about contact lenses. 

When it comes to contact lenses, many tend to wonder if they are safe or not. Given that contact lenses touch a sensitive part of the body, “the eyes”, it is understandable why one would want to know this before investing in one.

Are Contact Lenses Safe?

Well, the answer to this is yes, contact lenses are safe. This, however, doesn’t mean that they cannot be dangerous. Contact lenses, in some instances, are known to have caused damage to the eyes. However, these instances have been reported on individuals who’ve used them the wrong.

For instance, individuals who’ve made a mistake of wearing them too long risk the possibilities of damaging their eyes. This is more so true when one fails to properly clean them. As you can tell, these are mistakes you can avoid and reduce the chances of damaging your eyes.

To help ensure you don’t damage your eyes by wearing contact lenses, we’ve put together in this post a list of common contact lens mistakes you should avoid. These common mistakes are;

• Sleeping With Contacts On
• Cleaning Contact Lenses With Tap Water
• Neglecting Expiration Date of Contact Lenses
• Failing To Replace The Contact’s Casing

Sleeping With Contacts On

High on the list of mistakes that lead to eye damage as a result of wearing contacts is sleeping in them. And with several manufacturers claiming that one can sleep in with their lenses, many end up committing this mistake without knowing. So why is this wrong? Well, once you’ve fallen into the habit of sleeping with your contacts on, you’ll be waking up with dry eyes. Furthermore, your vision will be blurred when waking up.

If this isn’t scary enough, several reports including one by Centres for Disease Control and Prevention have shown that 25% of eye infections are as a result of modifiable risk factors. Examples of modifiable risk factors include wearing contact lenses for long or sleeping in them.

The same reports have also shown that there are no eye problems brought up by contact lenses ripping or getting ton. What this goes to support is the fact that contact lenses are safe to the eyes if you wear them correctly.

Wearing contacts while sleeping ends up extending your allowable wear time. What this does is deprive your cornea of oxygen. This will ultimately lead to discomfort and irritation among other things. At worse this can lead to serious eye infections such as eye microbial keratitis.

Cleaning Contact Lenses with Tap Water

Cleaning your contacts with clean tap water might seem like no harm but it can lead to serious eye damages. Why? Well, tap water might be safe for drinking but you ought to know that it isn’t sterile. Parasites like Acanthamoeba can be found in tap water. Therefore, opting to soak your lenses on the sink with tap water can lead to serious eye infections.

By not cleaning yours with tap water, you’ll be preventing your cornea from inflaming or scarred. This ultimately helps you avoid having eye problems like impaired vision.

What if I use filtered water from the tap? Well, the same still applies. Why you ask? Well, bacteria can easily grow on the faucet and make its way to the water then to your lenses. Therefore, make sure you avoid cleaning your lenses with tap water at all times.

Neglecting Your Contact’s Expiration Date

Wearing contact lenses past the expiration date is another common mistake many make with lenses. The reasoning with many people that choose to do this is that they are saving a few bucks here and there. Little do they know that they are setting themselves up to pay expensive medical bills later on in life. The problem with wearing contacts past their expiration dates is exposing yourself to germs.

Furthermore, your eyes will be exposed to build-up solution and other harmful residues. This leads to lenses that are uncomfortable to wear. Even worse, it might result in your eyes getting infected. Still not convinced? Well, a study published in The South African Optometrist in 2008 found contamination in expired lens packages. It’s good to note however that due to a small sample, they were unable to make any broad claims.

The conclusion that expired contacts do have harmful substances was further back up by the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Optometric Association.

They revealed that the solution containing lenses can indeed go bad as it can be more alkaline and acidic. In case you didn’t know, an unstable acidity can result in extreme eye irritability and discomfort. In certain cases, it can result in serious eye damages.

Failing To Replace Your Contact’s Case

Making sure that you replace the casing of your contact lenses is very important. You might take into account all that has been said so far and risk damaging your eye if you don’t change your casing. Why is it important to change your casing? Well, it all comes down to germs.

As confirmed by The American Optometric Association, germs can grow on your contact’s casing. Failing to change your case can easily result in the germs making contact with your contact lenses. This then leads to germs finding their way to your eyes when wearing your contacts.

This conclusion was further confirmed in a 2012 study published in the journal Ophthalmology. In the study, it was revealed that there was a greater risk of eye infection for those that didn’t properly clean or replace their lenses. In terms of specifics, the risk of getting an eye infection was 6.4 times greater for those who didn’t properly clean their lenses. The risk of infection was at 5.4 times greater for those that didn’t change casing. The best thing to do is replacing the casing as much as possible. This will help reduce the chances of your contact lenses getting exposed to the germ.

In Conclusion

As already mentioned earlier, contact lenses are safe. However, it is important that you wear them the correct way. Failure to do this will result in you experiencing several eye damages. It’s good to make sure that you see a doctor/expert from time to time for him/her to check your eyes. One such expert is Salisbury Optometrist.

To contact a member of Salisbury Optometrist, use the following phone numbers 08 8285 7100 or 0433 510 695.

There is also an opting of sending your queries or inquiries via mail. For this, you’ll need this Salisbury Optometrist email address salisburyoptometrist@gmail.com.