Users of contact lenses must practice proper eye care. Research conducted by Bausch & Lomb determined that an alarming number of adults are using strange substances rather than lens solution to clean their lenses. Products such as baby oil, beer, coke, petroleum jelly, fruit juices, butter as well as others were all mentioned as substitutions that were used, by one eighth of the two thousand adults polled in the survey conducted in the UK.
Even more of those queried reported that they use saliva when inserting their contacts. Considering that the mouth of the average adult is known to be the home of 500 to 650 varieties of germs, this can pose a serious health risk to your eyes. To worsen the situation, an alarming number of people presume that water from a tap or bottle is a suitable replacement for contact solution, nevertheless even those can contain parasites that can damage the eye and have been associated with Acanthamoeba keratitis, an infection that threatens your eyesight. Even moreso, if water enters your eyes when swimming or bathing while your contacts are in, it’s a good idea to remove your contacts as soon as you can and thoroughly rinse them to rinse away any parasites that may have stuck to them.
The only liquid that should be used to wash, cleanse, moisten or store your contacts is approved contact solution. It’s dangerous to keep your lenses in water! Keeping contacts in water does not sterilize them and dangerous pathogens can gather on your contacts within minutes and enter your eyes with the contacts. In addition, contact lens solution is made to compliment the saltiness of the tear film in your eyes and conversely water can cause discomfort or blurred vision because your lenses may stick or change shape.
When proper storage or cleansing is difficult for you, consider using one-use contacts instead of resusable lenses. You should always take age, daily routine and level of maturity into consideration when determining which contact lens options are best for the members of your family.
Don’t forget failure to properly care for your contacts with approved lens solution can cause serious harm or even complete vision loss.