Contact Lens Care Regimen - Part 1 | Contact Lens management | What to do with Contact Lens

Contact lenses are medical devices for which you need a complete and comprehensive eye check-up in which your eye care professional will assess the health of your eyes and find the correct power for nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness (hypermetropia), and astigmatism. After check-ups of your eyes, your eye care professional will decide which contact lens will keep your eyes healthy and comfortable. Of course, regular eye examinations by your eye care professional are an important part of wearing a contact lens. Cleanliness is an important aspect of proper contact lens care and handling of your contact lenses. And here we recommend that you should always follow the instructions:

What you should do...
• Thoroughly wash your hands with mild soap (or baby soap) to remove any traces of hand cream, dust, fluff, or dirt on your fingers, as these could end up in the lens and cause discomfort.

• Dry your hands with a lint-free towel/cloth before insertion and removal of contact lenses to avoid tiny fibers (lint) getting on to lens surface.

• Keep your fingernails short, smooth, and clean.

• Spread cloth/sheet while insertion or removal of Contact lens/es so that they should not be lost over the floor.

• Rub and rinse your lenses before insertion and after removal with the disinfecting solution recommended by the contact lens practitioner.

• Clean contact lens cases after each use using fresh, sterile disinfecting solution/contact lens cleaner.  

• Always insert and remove the same eye lens first, so that you do not mix-ups the right and left lenses.

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• Rinse your Lens/es in your palm with the other hand’s index finger after making an angle of 30-45 degrees and the lens should be rubbed in ‘+’ sign or clock & anti-clockwise with 8-10 gentle strokes with a recommended solution - this process should be repeated twice. You can turn inside out only in soft contact lenses but can’t do in RGP (hard) contact lenses.

• Before insertion of the lenses, you should Check that lens are not turned inside out (for soft contact lenses).

Now your contact lens/es are ready to insert. After insertion and before removal of the contact lens/es - cover one eye and check the vision with opposite eye and do it for another eye also, by which eye injury can be avoided.

Rinse the lens case weekly once with cool boiled water or RO water with a toothbrush and mild soap (baby soap), when the lens/es are in the eye/s.

Contact lenses should always be stored in the contact lens case in a fresh recommended disinfecting solution regularly to remove the protein deposits, mucus, and film from the lens surface, even if they are not being used daily.

Disinfecting solution disinfects your contact lenses and protects them from microbial contamination and reduces the risk of an eye infection.

Disinfecting solution filled in lens case to soak the contact lenses also has a wetting and conditioning effect, which forms a cushion effect over the front and back of contact lens surface, and provides comfort immediately after insertion.

After removing your lenses from the lens case, empty and rinse the lens storage case with solution(s) recommended by the lens case manufacturer; then allow the lens case to air dry. When the case is used again, refill it with a fresh storage solution. Replace lens case at regular intervals.

Rigid gas permeable contact lenses should always be soaked in disinfecting solution for better comfort. Keep them in dry state if you are not using them for one week or more. 

The disinfecting solution can be used within 75-90 days of opening the seal of the bottle and the remaining solution should be discarded after that duration.

Use disinfecting contact lens solution before the date of expiry marked on the bottle label or carton. Apply the disinfecting solution bottle cap after every use to avoid contamination and evaporation. 

After insertion of contact lenses in the eyes, you can apply only water-based make-up which does not deposit over contact lenses. If you want to remove the make-up then you should take out the contact lens first from the eyes, and then remove the make-up.

For the best safety, wherever you go carry your contact lens case and disinfecting solution with you. So that you can store your contact lenses in a lens case if needed.

If you experience any kind of eye discomfort, excessive watering (tearing), fluctuation in vision, and redness in the eye - remove your contact lens from your eyes immediately and consult your eye care practitioner. Replace lenses if they become damaged, chipped-off, or scratched.