The majority of the time I wear contact lenses, and unless you surprise me at home, or I'm on an early morning flight, you rarely see me in glasses. In high school, I remember how “nerdy” glasses were so I would squint and strain my eyes to end the day with a headache. I remember the day the optometrist finally said I could wear it, it changed my life!
Optometrists are guardians of the family eye and vision health, performing nearly 70% of first-time eye examinations for Americans, they provide a wealth of services including:
- Performing comprehensive eye exams
- Diagnosing and treating eye diseases
- Recognizing symptoms of systemic diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure
Fun Fact: with regular comprehensive eye exams, optometrists can often see an indication of potential health problems that can affect the whole body.
Did you know that contact lenses are among the safest, most popular forms of vision correction?
Today, more than one in ten people (that's 41 million to be exact) in the U.S. and 125 million people worldwide wear contact lenses. Crazy right?! Now optometrists agree that most children between the ages of 10 and 12 are mature enough to wear and care for contact lenses.
Clean and safe handling of is one of the most important measures to take to protect the eyes!
I admit sometimes I get lazy and don't thoroughly clean my contact lenses, but with Cheyenne starting to ask for contacts I know that I need to set a good example. It is hard to believe that she is nine years old and already wants to make the switch; I wish I could have done that at her age.
Proper Use and Care of Contact Lenses
- Contact lens wearers should have comprehensive eye exams annually
- Wash and dry hands BEFORE touching your and eyes
- Use the proper cleaning solution to carefully rub lenses with your fingers and rinse thoroughly BEFORE soaking overnight in sufficient multi-purpose disinfectant solution; do not reuse the solution. Cleaning and rinsing lenses with the proper solution removes mucus, secretions, films, or deposits that can build up during wearing and lead to bacterial growth.
- Store lenses in the proper lens storage case and replace your case every three months.
- Always remove before exposing them to water.
- Wear for the recommended duration, not following these guidelines can cause permanent eye damage from bacterial infections and oxygen deprivation
Visit the American Optometric Association to get more tips on proper care of your contact lenses.
Proper vision can affect how well a person functions and succeeds in life. I can confirm that because I know that dealing with headaches to not be “nerdy” in high school was not worth the pain and I ended up missing out on many learning opportunities and was always playing catch-up when it came to school work.
I know that my kids learn by example. By taking yearly eye exams and properly caring for my contact lenses, I know they'll learn good habits that will stick with them for years to come.
Do you wear contact lenses?
3 Comments
This is awesome! Contacts are a great alternative to glasses, but it’s important that you know how to use and clean them. Thanks so much for sharing your tips!
You are so right. You can never keep your contacts too clean. My thing is forgetting to take them off at night, so I set an alarm on my phone to remind myself to take them off. Have a wonderful day.
It’s interesting to know that about 125 million people worldwide actually use contact lenses. My sister has been complaining about her poor eyesight and I feel like this would be a better choice for her than eyeglasses. It might be better to consult an eye doctor as soon as she can for the appropriate prescription.