5 Steps To Perfect Contact Lens Maintenance

By Lee Dobbins

For many, contact lenses are one of the greatest inventions of the century offering crisp, clear vision without having to put up with eyeglasses. But one of the downfalls of this great invention is contact lens maintenance. While a lot of people skip this important step, you should know that not caring for your contact lenses correctly can lead to a host of eye infections and in some rare cases even blindness.

But there is no excuse for not caring for your lenses properly as it's never been easier to care for them. Today, you can go through your whole maintenance routine using just one type of solution which means that caring for your lenses is quicker and cheaper than even just a few years ago.

Below are five common steps one should take in order to provide proper contact lens maintenance. This will ensure that your lenses are sterilized and clean before you put them in your eyes and will lessen the chance of infection and eye injury. You should consult your eye care practitioner as to the appropriate care for your particular contact lenses.

1. Wash your hands. While this might seem like common sense, it's important to note that before you put in or remove your contact lenses you should wash your hands so that they are free of dirt, germs and debris. When you do this step, however, avoid using a moisturizing soap since this is not good for contacts. After washing, use a lint free towel to dry your hands.

2. Remove one of your lenses and clean it as recommended on the bottle of solution that you use as per your eye care practitioner's recommendation. Cleaning per the instructions is important because this will remove the protein deposits as well as other debris that build up on your lenses and can cause discomfort as well as impair the way you see through them. Some solutions will have you rubbing the lens and others will just have you rinsing it.

3. Rinse the lens per instructions. This is important because this will wash off the loosened debris.

4. Make sure your contact lens holder is clean and fill one side with your soaking in disinfecting solution in place the lens in the case. Disinfecting your lenses for the recommended amount of time is important because this will kill the microorganisms that could be growing on the lens and will help you avoid infection.

5. Repeat for the other lens.

In addition to these steps, your doctor may recommend an enzymatic cleaner that removes proteins build up. This typically is not needed for disposable lenses, but if you have lenses that you wear for a year or more the protein buildup can make them uncomfortable in impair your vision.

Proper contact lens maintenance is a part of wearing contact lenses, if you don't think that you can maintain them properly then you might try disposable ones that don't need any maintenance or go back to wearing eyeglasses. You only have two eyes, and to lose his sight in one because you didn't care for your contact lenses would be a shame so think twice before skipping these important steps.