Guide for Wearing Contact Lens

Though Contact Lenses are so common nowadays, people have many doubts about it. Lenses are so helpful in presenting your confidence.

Here are some tips to have safe and comfort wear of Contact Lenses.

Know Your Lens’ Balance

It is best if you apply the contact lens in correct position. Even if you wear it inside out, it is not harmful. But it cause some discomfort.

“Whether the contact lens is in the correct position to apply?”  Most of the new wearers have this question.

Well, one can easily find it out. Before applying contact lens, ensure that the contact lens looks like half a ball. It should not be shaped like a soup bowl with a rim.

 Place the contact lens, cup shaped on your finger. Get it in front of your eyes and confirm the shape of the contact lens.

The edges should not be outstretched. If it is so, then it is inside out (wrong position). If the lens forms the fair “U” position, then it is in the correct form.

Handling Tint contact lenses have the harmless colours over its rim. Colours are usually in green and blue. To find out the correct position of the handling tint contact lens, place it in your finger tip. Have it below your head and look into it. If you notice the colour on the edge on the lens, then it is in the correct position to apply.

Contact lens with laser markings is pretty easy to find its correct position. Usually it has brand name or numbers at the edge of the lens. If you can read it properly (from left to right), it is in exact form.

How to Wear Contact Lenses

For the best eye health, cleanliness tops the list. Before applying your contact lenses, ensure that you wash your hands completely in clean and flowing water. It is not recommended to use scented or oily soaps. Otherwise, it might get into your contact lenses. Further, avoid using products made of lanolin and moisturizing cream.

To avoid the confusion of wearing lens in the respective eye, doctors suggest wearing the lens in same order, every time.

Some Tips For Applying Contact Lenses In Your Eye:

• To loosen the stuck lenses in the solution, shake the lens case, gently.
• Don’t try to pull the lens by your fingers. It may damage the lens.
• Get the lens smoothly by sliding it out in your palm. With the exact contact lens solution, rinse it completely.
• The lens should almost be dry when you have it in the tip of your index or middle finger.
• Stretch your upper and lower eyelids at the same time with the fingers of other hand.
• Look upward or forward and be in your comfortable position. Apply the lens aptly on your cornea without any blinking. Or you can apply in the white eye closest to the ear.
• Close your eye gently. Roll your eyes completely all around the eye in a circle. So that the lens can be placed correctly.
• Confirm the position by looking into the mirror. The lens will provide pleasant experience and clear vision if it is placed exactly on the centre of your eye.

Tips to Remove Your Contact Lenses

Cleanliness always tops the list. So have a complete wash of your hands before removing your contact lenses. If you stand in front of a sink while removing your lenses, make sure you cover the drain area with a clean paper towel. It helps even if your lenses fell down by chance.

While removing soft contact lenses, stretch your lower eyelid and look upwards or sideways. Be careful in sliding the lens into your white part, with your finger. Then, grasp your lens softly from the eye with your index and thumb finger.

Keep your fingernails short and tidy till you are well practised in removing the contact lenses. Or it may damage or cause harm to your eye.

Removal of Gas permeable contact lenses is way easier. Hold out your palm and bend down, facing the palm. Pull the junction between the upper and lower eyelids with a finger of the other hand. Hold your eyes wide open and blink. The contact lens will drop on your palm right away.

Plungers are used to remove contact lenses. Eye doctors suggest it and you can get it from your eye specialist. Plungers can be used directly to remove lens from your eye. But you are not supposed to touch the eye surface but only your contacts, with this device.

Some may say that contact lenses will be vanished behind the eye. It is not true. Actually, the membrane which connects the eye and back of the eyelid will not let contacts to be vanished.

Contact Lenses and UV Light

As we all know, ultraviolet light causes much damage to our eyes and health. Researchers have found that UV light may lead to the formation of cataracts. Photokeratitis may also be the result if the eyes encounter excessive UV light.

To take better care of your eyes, there are contact lenses with UV- blocking agent. As the blocking agent is so clear, you cannot say whether it has the UV blocking material or not. The package of the contact lens let you know the specific material in it or you can consult it with your eye specialist.

Contact lens with UV light blocking agent differs from sunglass. It cannot replace sunglass. Sunglass covers your entire eye whereas contact lens protects only your cornea.

The white part of the eye develops formations such as pingueculae and pterygia. These cannot be protected by contact lenses with UV blocking agent.

The in and around areas of your eyes can be protected by the sunglass with UV protection. It depends on the size of the lens of sunglass. To give further shield, contact lenses with UV protection are made to give extra quality.

Does Eye Makeup affect Contacts?

For confident communication, we talk by looking straight into the eyes. That’s why we all prefer to do some eye makeup for elegant appearance. To avoid the makeup discomfort of contact lens wearers, here are some tips to follow:

Apply the lens initially: Before doing your makeup, wash your hands completely in clean and flowing water and put on the lens. So that, no makeup particles will get into your contacts.

Non-allergenic makeup is the best: Use makeup products which do not cause any damage to your eye health. There are several brands for eye care makeup in the market.

 Use water- based: Cream eye shadow is better than powder. But a drawback is that cream irritates much, if it gets into the eye. So, rather prefer water-based than oil-based creams.

Eyes closed if it is powder: While using powder, close your eyes shut and brush. Before opening your eyes, make sure you don’t have to apply more powder.

Apply eyeliner around: Don’t apply the eyeliner nearest to your eye. It is better if you apply it away from your eye. Don’t get it so close to your eyeball.

Removing eye makeup: Before removing your eye makeup, wash and dry your hands. And take off the contact lenses first. Ensure that the lenses don’t touch your makeup. Now you can use your makeup remover freely to remove the makeup.

Don’t use it long: Eye makeup accessories should be replaced once in a while (at least in every three months). Don’t use the same eye makeup for a long time. Or it may grow out some bacteria which would get into your eyes. Eye makeup smells funny when it gets old. Besides, don’t share your eye makeup with anyone.

Fungal Eye Infections and Contact Lens

Though you clean and disinfect the lenses and lens case with appropriate solution, it is not completely free of the eye infection. According to a research in 2015, it is found that cleaning your contacts as per the directions is not much of the use.

In the study by Eye & Contact Lens, researchers inquired the contact lens cases of asymptomatic lens wearers and looked into the occurrence of fungal contamination of multi use disinfecting solution of the contact lens cases.

The research involved participants who wear soft disposable contact lenses on everyday basis. The lenses were made for monthly disposal. After removal, the lenses were kept in the lens storage case filled with disinfecting solution suggested by respective eye doctor.

The researchers took samples of the solution from the lens case using a sterile syringe. Then, the samples are preserved for four days at 95 degrees Fahrenheit for the evaluation of fungal contamination. It is approximately the temperature to keep the front surface of the eye to be healthy.

216 samples were collected from 117 contact lens cases. 15 samples (6.9%) from 12 storage cases (10.2%) tested positive. Even one among several fungi species can lead to eye infections. Multi-purpose lens solution is found to be more effective in preventing fungal contamination in lens storage cases. It is better than disinfectant solutions with hydrogen peroxide, because it is not so effective.

The study concludes that fungal eye infections and its risks prevail, even if contacts wearers steadily follow the lens cleaning and replacing instructions suggested by their eye doctor.