Contact Lens Care
The care of contact lenses should be done daily and carefully. It is advisable to clean the lenses when inserting and removing them, e.g. in the morning and in the evening. They are kept in a special solution in the container provided for them, which is usually a small box.
These doses should be changed every four weeks. The care of your contact lenses consists of the steps cleaning and disinfection. Special contact lens cleaning and disinfecting agents are used for this, which you can obtain from your optician or ophthalmologist.
Never use tap water or drinking water for cleaning! These often contain invisible micro-organisms and bacteria that can contaminate your contact lenses and thus be a serious source of eye infections. Before you start cleaning your contact lenses, first wash your hands thoroughly with soap and then dry them with a lint-free cloth.
Then carefully place the contact lens on the inside surface of your hand to begin the first step – cleaning. Wet your contact lens with the cleaning agent and rub it carefully with the little finger of the other hand. The little finger is a good choice because it has the potentially smallest germ surface of all fingers.
After rubbing, the contact lenses are rinsed once with the cleaning agent and placed in the container with the disinfectant intended for them. The second step is the disinfection. This should be done with a germ reducing care product.
In addition, the disinfectant solution in the containers should not be used a second time and should therefore be changed daily. Only fresh disinfectant solutions can develop their full effect. There are different preparations for the disinfectants.
Please pay attention to the duration of the contact lens insertion time according to the manufacturer. Disinfection is best done overnight. Before reinserting your contact lenses, the residues of the disinfectant must be rinsed off.
Tap water must not be used for this either. Rinsing is done with sterile sodium chloride solution (sterile saline solution), which you can obtain from your optician or ophthalmologist. This avoids irritations caused by the disinfectant remaining on the contact lens.
Your hands must also be thoroughly cleaned before this step! Saline solutions must not be prepared independently, as they are not sterile. Monthly/yearly lenses are a special case: Their prolonged use makes them more susceptible to fat and protein deposits on the contact lens.
The deposited fats and proteins can worsen vision on the one hand, but also cause irritation and allergies.These problems can be avoided by the additional use of a so-called enzyme cleaner. One of the most common side effects of contact lenses is the risk of infection. Even during the insertion process, the wearer of the contact lens brings the infectious particles such as bacteria or microorganisms into the eye through dirt and residues on the lens.
Therefore you should always wash your hands thoroughly and work cleanly before handling your contact lens. Germs can multiply particularly well between the eye and the contact lens, whereby here the so-called soft contact lenses are more frequently affected than the hard contact lenses. An infection usually manifests itself as inflammation of the conjunctiva of the eye: The eye itches, burns, is reddened and watery.
If this is the case, it is best to consult an ophthalmologist and refrain from wearing the lens during this time. Use your glasses for as long as you do. Another complication can be the lack of oxygen supply to the cornea of the eye caused by the contact lens.
The contact lens lies directly on the tear film of the eye, which is the eye’s nutrient supply. When your contact lens is optimally fitted, it floats on the tear film and ensures an adequate supply of nutrients to the eye. If the contact lens is not sufficiently washed around, e.g. by wearing an incorrectly fitted contact lens, the eye is insufficiently supplied with oxygen.
The consequence is a possible swelling of the cornea due to the lack of removal of metabolic products from the eye. The cornea may become cloudy and vision may be impaired. Furthermore, a lack of oxygen in the eye can lead to the formation of new blood vessels on the cornea, which act as a protective mechanism to compensate for the lack of oxygen supply and to restore it.
This also leads to a deterioration of vision. Occasionally, allergies to cleaning agents occur when wearing contact lenses. In general, work with dusty jobs and drying environments should be avoided when wearing contact lenses. In case of very dry eyes, contact lenses should not be worn.
