What if I use sanitizer to clean lens case & then dip in normal water?

What if I use sanitizer to clean lens case & then dip in normal water?

Contact lenses are medical device which directly kept on cornea (front of the eye) and person start seeing clearly with it (without spectacle).

Contact lenses are available in different modalities.
(i) Daily disposable contact lenses (ii) Reusable contact lenses

(i) Daily disposable contact lenses are worn in the morning and removed before going to bed (~12-14 hrs of usage) and through away.

(ii) Reusable contact lenses are worn in the morning and removed from the eyes in evening after 10-14 hours of usage and kept in storage box which is called as contact lens case. Reusable contact lenses again comes in different reusable modalities.

There are conventional contact lenses which can be reused up to 1 year. These lenses are called reusable contact lens. But some patients start getting discomfort after few months of usage. These lenses provide low oxygen to cornea and in general person can use these lenses up to 8 hrs per day in single stretch. Maintenance and hygiene of these lenses are very important as you are using these lenses for up to one year.

There are monthly disposable contact lenses which can be reused up to one month and then you need to dispose them. These lenses provide better oxygen level to cornea than conventional contact lenses. If you use these lenses more than one month, then lens may accumulate deposits and may cause eye discomfort.

There are biweekly disposable contact lenses which can be reused up to 2 weeks and then you need to dispose them. These lenses provides better oxygen to the cornea and contact lens deposits would be less. Risk of an eye infection in these lenses are very less.

As we are talking about reusable contact lenses. Definitely we need to store them somewhere.  So these contact lenses should be kept in storage box which is called as contact lens case. Contact lens case comes with R and L marking. R means Right and L means Left, so Right eye contact lens and Left eye contact lens should be kept in the respective lens case area. If you are using lens case regularly then it should be cleaned once in 5-7 days.

How to clean contact lens case:    

Contact lens cases are made-up of different type of plastics and it is available in different attractive shapes, size and colors. In some of the lens case right or left eye lid may be different in color to differentiate. Some lens case comes in box shape, fitted with mirror inside so you need to carry mirror separately and if you need to carry some contact lens accessories ie. contact lens pick stick, plunger etc.

Cleaning the lens case is very simple and easy. First thing is you need to remember that you should not remove your lenses from your eyes while cleaning the lens case or you should have two lens case. One lens case for usage and other one for cleaning. You need to wash your hands before cleaning the lens case and then contact lens case should be rinse with mild soap + tooth brush and washed with RO water or cooled boil water and after cleaning the lens case let it be dry with cotton cloth or air dry.  After that you need to rinse this lens case with contact lens solution once and now your contact lens case is ready to use.

You should never use sanitizer to clean the contact lens case as sanitizer contains chemicals in it and these chemicals may remain in your lens case and react with contact lens solution. Due to this your contact lens may cause any kind of discomfort in your eyes while wearing which may lead as an eye allergy or eye infection over period of time.

It is very important that contact lens should never come in contact with water. Sometimes contact lens comes in contact with water may cause an eye infections.

Hope this post might be useful to you!
You can share this post with your friends whoever is using contact lenses!