5 Biggest Mistakes You Can Make with Your Contacts

1. Not washing your hands before handling contacts

Inserting and removing your contacts is the PERFECT way to introduce bacterias, amoebas, viruses, and chemicals into your eye. Always make sure to thoroughly wash your hands before ever touching your eye. 99% of all eye infections occur because of a contaminated hand, washing your hands is a simple way to keep your eyes healthy and happy.

2. Not replacing lenses often enough

It is known that contact lenses cause corneal damage anytime they are worn. To illustrate this, let’s consider that contact lens companies receive lens replacement timeframe approvals from the FDA based on the amount of corneal damage that occurs during the 1 day, 2 week, or 1 month period of time. This means that we know contacts WILL damage your eyes, so you should be choosing the healthiest possible wearing schedule to minimize this as much as you can. The general rule of thumb is the more frequently you replace your lenses, the healthier your eyes will be, and you will be less likely to have serious side effects.

The most common side effect of not replacing your contact lenses is a condition called giant papillary conjunctivitis or GPC. In GPC, large cobblestone like papillae, or bumps, form under the upper lid. These papillae can be permanent, and are often hard to treat if action is not taken. The good news is that GPC is almost non-existent in patients who wear 1 day lenses and replace them every day. I recommend 1 day lenses to all my patients for this reason.

3. Overwearing contact lenses

Modern lenses are built for a full-day of wear, however, many wearers are using outdated lens materials without even knowing it. Since 2005, a material called Silicon Hydrogel has allowed contacts to be 8x more breathable, allowing for healthy eyes with a full day of wear. However, lens companies have been slow to introduce this technology, and patients are not aware that they are doing harm to their eyes by wearing their lenses more than 8 hours per day.

When you starve your cornea of oxygen by overwearing an outdated lens material you can cause corneal ulcers and neovascularization. Neovascularization is quite common in older lens materials, it is a condition in which newly made blood vessels start to grow into your cornea where they don’t belong.

Always request silicone hydrogel material lenses from your optometrist, below is a list of common lenses to avoid if you wear your lenses for longer than 8 hours per day.

4. Wearing lenses with no UV protection

UV protection is the EASIEST way to keep your eyes healthy for a lifetime, helping you avoid serious conditions like macular degeneration and cataracts. At this point in time, there is NO excuse for wearing lenses without UV protection, however a surprising number of brands still do not provide substantial protection.

Carefully read your lens packaging to ensure that it protects your eyes from the sun. Request class 1 UV blocking from your optometrist, providing 90% of UV-A rays, and 99% of UV-B rays. In general, daily lenses tend to have better UV protection than 2 week or monthly lenses. Below is a list of common contact lenses WITHOUT adequate UV protection.

5. Don’t sleep in your contacts

Sleeping in contact lenses is the number one reason for patients having serious health complications associated with their lenses. When you sleep in your contacts, your cornea is starved of oxygen, leading to corneal swelling, and eventually, a breakdown of the corneal tissue. This causes something called a corneal ulcer, in other words an open sore on the eye. Corneal ulcers are EXTREMELY painful, and pose a serious risk of permanent vision loss. So guys… take those lenses out before going to sleep.