Contact Lens Care Tips

Contact Lens Care Tips Dr. Travis Stork: One of the best ways to keep your eyes healthy is by giving them the best possible care. We recent received a home video from Scarlet who has concerns about her own eye health. Scarlet: Hi Doctors, I wear contact lenses and I have a hard time for getting ready to take care of them because my bad habits cause eye problems. What is the proper way to take care of my contacts? Dr. Travis Stork: Thanks for your question Scarlet and joining us today is optometrist Dr. Hilary Hawthorne. We’re going to talk about some much needed pointers because a lot of contact lens wears out there. And I know from personal experience I see the infections in the eye. I wear contacts myself. If you improperly store your contact lenses you’re setting yourself up for corneal infections, irritation, you get red eyes, they’re very irritated, and it’s painful, blurry vision. You could have a problem and you’re going to talk to us about ways to prevent them, the first place, right. Dr. Hilary Hawthorne: Absolutely. With the arrival of spring now is the best time to talk about taking a fresh approach to your daily routines. Contact lens care is very important. You’re going to start number one with always washing your hands. You have a clean, contact lens that you are going to handle and it’s coming from a clean case. I’d like to go through a couple of steps to demonstrate how you handle contact lens and properly care for it. You’re going to clean it with Bausch and Lomb Renu Fresh, make sure that you rub the lens. Cleaning and rubbing a lens is the best way to maintain your eye health and comfort. Rinsing off the lens, you want to make sure that you’re using enough fresh solution never reuse your solution as you handle your contact lens. You want to make sure that you’re rinsing it off and even as you’re using that product such as Renu fresh, make sure that you’re going through—at least 12-ounce bottle every month. Dr. Travis Stork: All right and if you don’t? Do you need to replace it or? Dr. Hilary Hawthorne: You want to make sure you’re using enough solution that’s a good way to gauge it. After about 90 days, this clear bottle you’ll be able to tell how much solution is remaining. Dr. Travis Stork: And I’m looking here, I’m seeing some dirty contact lens cases is that a problem? Dr. Hilary Hawthorne: Absolutely. If your contact lens case looks like this that can be a hazard or problem for your eyes and lead to eye infections when you begin to use this lens. A lens should always be clean and free of any debris or any materials within it. When you’re storing your contact lens it has two sides. Always use the side that’s marked for the lens that you’re handling. Place the lens inside that holder and make sure you’re filling it with solution. Not all the way topping it off but just enough to cover the lens so it will disinfect. Dr. Travis Stork: And what’s the best way for all this contact lens where out there to wash our cases to keep them clean? Dr. Hilary Hawthorne: My favorite way to recommend to my patients, store the case upside down open and dry. That way it won’t build up or catch any materials. Dr. Travis Stork: And that’s why you want your lens to be clean, free of bacteria. And even if your case has bacteria in it, it will get in your lens then it gets in your eye so these are all great pointers. Thank you so much. We appreciate you being here.