When cared for properly, contact lenses can provide a healthy, comfortable and convenient vision correction option. Whether you are new to contact lenses or have been wearing them for years, the following tips will help you to enjoy their benefits.

Ongoing Professional Care

For your own safety, you should seek the care of a licensed eye care professional before you use contact lenses. In fact, in most countries, it's required. Only your eye care professional is educated, trained and licensed to examine and properly fit the lenses to your eyes. By visiting your eye care professional, you can be sure that you'll receive the right contact lenses for your eyes and personal vision correction needs — as well as instructions on how to properly care for them.

Furthermore, proper follow-up care by your eye care professional is essential to ensure eye health throughout your life. Over time, your eyes and lenses can change — often without symptoms or warning signs — which may put you at risk for developing potentially serious complications, including vision loss. Regular ongoing professional care can help to ensure a lifetime of good vision and eye health. Please consult your eye care professional for a recommended visitation schedule, which usually varies between every 6-12 months.

Following a Wearing Schedule

Different lenses are made for different wearing schedules. While some lenses can potentially be worn for a week or even a month of continuous wear, others are meant to be taken out daily. To protect your eyes from serious complications, it's important that you follow the wearing schedule that your eye care professional recommends.

Inserting and Removing Your Lenses

It's important that you wash, rinse and dry your hands thoroughly each time you handle your lenses. Good hygiene helps to eliminate germs which can cause eye infection — especially for smokers. Do not insert a lens into an eye that is red, irritated or painful. In these instances, you should contact your eye care professional immediately before continuing contact lens use.

Caring for Your Lenses

Depending on the type of lenses you're wearing, there are many different options for cleaning and disinfecting them. Some lenses, such as daily disposable lenses, require little to no lens care — they're simply thrown away after each use. However, if you wear lenses that your eye care professional has recommended to take out and re-insert into your eye, they should be cleaned and disinfected after each use. Proper care for your lenses can help your lenses stay clean and comfortable for you to wear. Your eye care professional can help you decide what lens care solutions are best for you.

Problems?

If you experience any problems with your contact lenses, remove your lenses and consult your eye care professional right away. Discomfort can be an early sign of a more serious complication, and early treatment can have a significant impact on overcoming problems.