It’s bedtime.
Your eyes are red, irritated, and you’re blinking so much that it feels like you’re trying to deliver a message in Morse Code. The problem is obvious… your lenses are dried out, worn down, and far too depended on to provide you with sight for an entire day.
Everyone who wears contact lenses has experienced this end-of-the-day/month feeling where your contacts are well past their prime and all you want is to move on to the next pair.
Taking proper care of your lenses and eyes can minimize the amount of time that you spend itching (your eyes) for a fresh set. Proper lens care is mainly done through daily cleaning. There are recommended cleaning solutions used to both store and rinse off your contacts, and using these properly will help prevent infection and discomfort in your eyes.
Obviously, to be able to clean your lenses adequately you have to take them out of your eyes. Sleeping with your contacts can be the start to many problems, as your eyes aren’t able to breathe as well through the night and you don’t have the opportunity to clean your lenses properly. These same issues are, to a lesser extent, caused by keeping your contacts in for too long on any particular day.
While the process of cleaning your lenses thoroughly may seem tedious, it is a necessary step for maintaining an optimal level of comfort.
Here are some additional tips for reducing upkeep time:
- Use daily contact lenses, which require less care as they are disposable after their first use, allowing you to start with a fresh, out of the package feeling every day
- Make sure you like the glasses you have. A stylish pair of frames can become a part of the regular rotation, and give your eyes a break a couple times a week
- Make sure you store your lenses in a fresh pool of contact solution. Replacing the solution in your lens case daily will decrease the amount of leftover bacteria, which does a better job of breaking down the proteins on your lenses overnight
An apple a day doesn’t do much for your eyes… so don’t forget that some of these solutions and many others can be facilitated through a quick visit to your eye doctor or eye care specialist.