Healthy eyes, healthy habits

How can I best take care of my contact lenses?

• Wash and dry your hands thoroughly before inserting or removing your lenses.
• Take care not to catch the lens or your eye with your fingernails – it is good practice to keep them short.
• Work over a clean, flat surface.
• Use saline solution to rinse your lenses and case.
• To minimise the possibility of mixing your lenses up, it is a good idea to get into the habit of always inserting and removing the same lens first.
• Use the care system recommended to you in the clinic or use the correct cleaning solutions.

Cleaning your contact lenses case

Eye infections can happen due to not cleaning your contact lens case properly. Once you have put your lenses in, throw away the solution from your case, rinse it with saline and leave to air dry. Replace your contact lens case with a new one every month.

Diseases that can result from poor contact lens care

• Corneal infection (known as microbial keratitis) in contact lens wearers affects around four per 10,000 wearers each year and is mainly caused by bacteria which stick to contact lenses. These microorganisms become more resistant and harmful.
• Acanthamoeba keratitis is a more rare form of microbial keratitis, occurring in around two per 100,000 wearers per year, although it varies regionally. It is a more severe form of infection and 85% of cases occur in contact lens wearers who are otherwise fit and healthy.
• Fungal keratitis can also occur with contact lens wear but occurs most often in people who sustain eye injuries from agricultural or gardening accidents, ocular surface disease and those with immunosuppression. This infection, like acanthamoeba keratitis is one of the severest forms of corneal infection that can occur in contact lens wear.

Things to remember

• If you wear make-up, insert your lenses before putting on your make-up and remove them before taking your make-up off.
• To keep your eyes in good health, make sure that you regularly attend your contact lens and eye exam appointments.
• If there is a possibility that you may not have access to your full contact lens kit keep an emergency 'overnight' storage pot on your person. Do not leave lenses in water overnight or spit on them when they are dry or have fallen out of the eye.

At Moorfields Eye Hospital our specialists have noticed a big rise in cases of acanthamoeba keratitis. We want everyone to enjoy the freedom that contact lenses offer and give you some basic but vital steps to follow to keep your eyes healthy.