Contact Lenses Care

This is a conservative, cautious wearing schedule. You may be able to wear your lenses a few hours or all day the first day, depending upon various factors: the lens type, any modifications made to increase comfort, and to some extent your eyes‘ physiology. You’ll pay more for the new, flexible, ultra-thin mini-lenses made with wettable PMMA, but you may decide they’re worth it in terms of initial and ultimate wearing time and comfort.

Always be on guard against the overwear syndrome. Once you’ve reached “full-time wear“—the hours will vary from person to person—you shouldn’t exceed that amount. If you plan to be dancing till dawn, you should break up the wearing time. At some point during the day, remove the lenses for at least thirty minutes to let your eyes rest. Then clean, rewet, and reinsert the lenses. Your wearing time will be extended, in safety and comfort.

On the other hand, you shouldn’t underwear your lenses either. Once the maximum time is reached, it is necessary to maintain that wearing schedule every day. If, for some reason, you do not wear the contact lenses for a day, the wearing time has to be curtailed. Reduce the wearing time two hours a day for each day the lenses are not worn. If you’ve merely shortened your wearing time, never wear your lenses for more than two hours longer than you did the previous day.

If only this wearer had been that cautious: “It was New Year’s Eve—you know, party night. I was so excited . . . I was going with someone I really liked to the party of the year. Of course I kept my contacts on all night; crepe de chine and Annie Hall eyeglasses just don’t go together. Came four A.M. and I still wasn’t tired, so we stayed for breakfast. By the time I got home I’d been wearing my contacts for twenty-four hours, but they didn’t hurt at all. Then came the shocker—two hours after I fell asleep I couldn’t believe the stabbing pain in my eyes. They started tearing, were awfully red, and I couldn’t bear the daylight. I realized this was no ordinary hangover and I called my eye doctor. Sure enough, I had corneal edema. I couldn’t wear my contact lenses for three days and had to have my eyes patched for twenty-four hours. I’m fine now, but I learned my lesson; I’ll never abuse my eyes that way again.”

If you find your eyes are sensitive to light while wearing the lenses, you should wear sunglasses outdoors, especially in bright light. You’ll need eye protection, too, when you’re in windy, dusty conditions, when tiny foreign particles can get under the lenses. Wear goggles or sunglasses with side shields when you ski, snowmobile, sail, motorcycle, and so on.

Never wear hard lenses while swimming unless you wear goggles or a mask; the lenses may float away if you open your eyes underwater. Finding a contact lens in a swimming pool is probably harder than finding the proverbial needle in a haystack.

Don’t wear lenses while sleeping. If you need to remove your lenses but for some reason can’t put them in their storage case, there are some doctors who advise their patients to slide their lenses off the cornea and onto the sclera (white of the eye). The lenses can be left there for a long time; in fact this is routine nighttime procedure in Germany for many wearers who don’t want to bother with storage and cases. I do not recommend this procedure because the lenses may strongly adhere to the sclera and it is only with difficulty that they can be removed. Also the cornea can be scratched during the sliding maneuver.

Always wash your hands before touching the lenses, and never use saliva as a wetting solution.

Never rub your eyes while wearing lenses—serious corneal injury may result.

Be sure to return to your eye practitioner for regular checkups, whether your lenses feel fine or not. He may be able to detect problems of which you are unaware, perhaps because they’ve crept up gradually, or simply because you may have no discernible symptoms. And, of course, do not hesitate to return for an exam if you’re having any difficulties.

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
Hard Contact Lens Wearing Tips

• Centering Hard Contact Lenses
• A Look at CONTACT LENSES: What are CONTACT LENSES?
• Cosmetic and Prosthetic Contact Lenses
• How to Wear Soft Contact lens (Centering Soft Contact Lens & Removing Soft Contact Lens)
• Conventional Soft Contact Lenses continue...
• Between Soft Lenses and Hard Lenses; Typical Wearing Schedule—Gas-Permeable Contact Lens
• Who Should Wear Hard Lenses
• Adaptation and Wearing Tips of Soft Contact Lenses
• ADVANTAGES OF HARD CONTACT LENSES
• Unfavorable thoughts of Hard Contact Lens continue...