Contact Lenses and Healthy Eyes - 12 Rules Every Contact Lens Wearer Should Follow

Contact Lenses and Healthy Eyes - 12 Rules Every Contact Lens Wearer Should Follow

Do you want to switch to contact lenses from glasses, but you're not sure if contact lenses are safe or if caring for them is too much of a hassle? Or do you wear contacts already and want to make sure that you do the best for your eye health?

Taking proper care of your eyes and contact lenses isn't rocket science. Here are 12 simple rules you can follow, to keep your contact lenses and your eyes happy and healthy.

1. Modern contact lenses vary in quality; make sure that your doctor prescribes the contact lenses that are healthiest for your eyes. See suggestions on advanced contact lenses



2. Clean your lenses every time you handle them (before putting contacts in your eyes and after removing them). Give each lens a gentle 10-15 second rub in solution. The only exception to this rule is color lenses - rinse, but don't rub them; it might damage the color.



3. Handle only one lens at a time, so you don't confuse them. Train yourself to start with ether the right or the left lens.



4. When cleaning your lenses don't forget to take care of the lens case as well. Wash it with unperfumed soap and let it dry. Doctors also recommend that you replace your contact lens case every 2 or 3 months.



5. Never put your lenses in the same solution twice; replace the solution every time you handle your lenses. Usually you shouldn't use any solution 6 months after the bottle has been opened, and definitely not after the expiry date. Store your contact lenses and solution in a dry, cool place. The refrigerator door is ideal.



6. Soft contact lenses shouldn't be allowed to dry up. The lens should be either in the eye, or in a special solution. If you accidentally let the lens dry up, throw it out, it is no longer good.



7. Don't wear contacts if you have got a cold, cold sores or another infection. You don't want any germs to get into your eyes. It is handy to have a pair of glasses for such occasions.



8. If you wear make-up, apply your eye make-up after putting your lenses in, and try to use water-based mascara. Lenses are very sensitive to deodorants and hair sprays, so either spray before you put the lenses in, or close your eyes very tightly while spraying.



9. Don't forget to replace your contact lenses on schedule. Daily disposables - every morning, 2-week replacements - every fortnight and so on. A couple of days delay wouldn't make any difference, but wearing 2-week replacements for a month is definitely not healthy for your eyes. See more information about disposable contacts.



10. Avoid smoky or dusty rooms; soft contact lenses collect every tiny particle and your eyes will feel uncomfortable.



11. If your eyes feel uncomfortable or irritated, take the lens out. It is possible that something is stuck under it or the lens is torn. If your lens isn't damaged, wash your eye and the lens, and put it back. If the unpleasant sensation doesn't go away, take the lenses out and don't wear them until you can see your optometrist. Damaged lenses should be thrown away, no matter how expensive they are. A torn lens can do serious harm to your eye.



12. Don't sleep in your contacts. Lenses designed as day wear block oxygen flow to your eyes and the eyelid puts extra pressure on the lens, so your eyes would feel terrible after you wake up. The only exception is extended wear lenses, like Focus Night and Day or Acuvue; they are designed for continuous wear and sleep.
    

If you routinely follow these rules, your contact lenses should never give you any problems and, most of the time, you should feel like you don't wear any corrective lenses at all.

About the Author

Tanya Turner is a contact lens expert and a founder of www.1-contact-lenses-consumer-guide.com/, where you can find unbiased information about eye health and all types of contact lenses with reviews and pictures
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We wear contact lenses mainly because we are vain.

But, they come in handy for any kind of sports, people even wear them while swimming although you have to watch they don't float out.

The Inventor of the contact lens concept was Leonardo da Vinci in 1508,who sketched and described several forms of contact lenses.

Hard contact lenses

Hard contact lenses are manufactured from a rigid material, PolyMethylMethacrylate (PMMA). This substance is also combined with other plastics to increase the oxygen permeability. Visual acuity is perfect.

In 1632 Rene Descartes of France suggests the first hard contact lens, which idea was actually developed in 1801 by Thomas Young; resulting in a quarter-inch-long, water-filled glass tube, the outer end having a microscopic lens,and he is the first user.

In 1887 a German Glassblower, F.E. Muller of Wiesbaden,fabricates the first piece of glass acting as a contact lens which could be seen through seen through and tolerated.

Soft daily wear lenses have the main advantage that they allow the eyes to be oxygenated through the lens.

They're also easy to adapt to and difficult to lose. You can get them in all kinds of colours. Fantastic for wearing in sport activities.

Not a panacea for all vision problems and they have to be thoroughly cleaned. Maximum lifespan 1 year.

In 1936 William Feinbloom, a New York optometrist, manufactures the first American- made plastic contact lenses. These were still hard lenses.

The first soft, water-absorbing plastic lenses were developed in 1960 by Otto Wichterle and Drahoslav Lim .

Disposable lenses

1.Extended-wear disposable

Soft lenses that you are able to wear for an extended period of time, up to six nights, and then you can throw them away. They hardly require any cleaning and have virtually no chance of causing eye infection if user instructions are followed...

You can get them tinted and as bifocals. Your Vision may not be as sharp as with other lenses and they do not correct all vision problems. More difficult to handle.

2. Planned soft daily replacement lenses

Soft daily wear lenses that you replace on a planned schedule, either every two weeks, monthly or quarterly. Require thorough cleaning and disinfection. all vision problems. Not easy to handle.

Colored lenses

There are 4 types of colored contact lenses:

visible tints, tints to enhance, color opaque tints and tints that filter light Most of these colored contact lenses are available in plano form (without visual correction), as well as for astigmatism, who need bifocal correction, or who want a disposable or frequent replacement lens.

Astigmatic lenses (toric) were first introduced in 1978 and approved for distribution in the United States.

These lenses contain both a spherical and cylinder component to correct prescriptions which have astigmatism. Lenses may be thicker in one meridian or have modified thickness profiles to enable the lens to maintain the correct orientation on the eye.

Bifocal contacts became available in 1982 for commercial distribution.

There are a variety of designs in bifocals, essentially all trying to provide a transition or reading zone for use at near distances. The different designs include; + aspheric multifocal - + simultaneous vision concentric - has either a central near or distance zone with surrounding zone of opposite type to centre (eg, centre near,distance surround) + diffraction/holographic - based on diffraction grating principles.

Eye exercises There seems to be a natural alternative to eyeglasses, contacts, intacs, and even Lasik surgery, which is a series of eye muscle exercises over a period of 30 days that supposedly corrects your vision to quite an extent.

The validity of this method of vision correction has not been fully proven.

About the author:

About Cataracts by J Schipper Contact Lenses by J Schipper