Important Things To Know Before Getting Your First Contact Lenses

Health & Medical Blog

Are you tired of wearing glasses? Are you thinking about switching to contact lenses, but you're confused by the different types? While your eye doctor can answer questions you may have, it's still good to go in to your appointment with some idea of what you want. Here are some things that you should know about contact lenses:

Daily wear lenses: Daily wear lenses are worn for one day and then thrown away. If you're not sure whether you want to wear contact lenses full time or if you simply want to forgo glasses when playing sports, then daily wear lenses may be your best option. Because these lenses are only worn for one day, there is much less maintenance required than with other types of contact lenses. 

Extended wear lenses: These types of contact lenses are usually not worn for more than a couple weeks before being thrown away. They should be taken out every night and cleaned according to your eye doctor's instructions. These are likely the type of lenses that most people are thinking about when they mention contact lenses. Although caring for this type of contact lens is not difficult or time consuming, they may not be right for you if you have a life that is too busy to allow you to take time to properly clean and care for your contacts.

Cleaning solution: Always use the solution recommended by your optometrist or ophthalmologist. Some solutions may work poorly with or damage certain types of contact lenses. Other solutions may contain ingredients such as Thiomersal, which can cause allergic reactions in certain people. Following your eye doctor's recommendations will allow him or her to more easily tell whether a red eye is caused by an infection or irritation or is a reaction to the cleaning and soaking solutions for your lenses.

Misplaced lenses: During the course of a day, it's normal for one of your contact lenses to occasionally fall out. In order to restore vision as quickly as possible, some people succumb to the temptation of cleaning their lenses off by putting them in their mouth. However, this is something that should be avoided at all costs. At any given time, even if you brush and floss regularly, your mouth can be home to hundreds of different strains of bacteria. These bacteria can easily be transferred from your mouth to your eye by riding on your contact lens, potentially causing a painful eye infection. Instead of sticking your contact lenses in your mouth, you should always carry a small bottle of sterile re-wetting solution. This will allow you to clean your contact lenses and reduce potential bacterial contamination.

For more information, contact The Eye Center or a similar location.

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26 August 2015

Help Others Make Health Decisions when They Cannot

One day I was playing a game of basketball with a friend, and the friend I was playing ball with tripped and took a hard fall to the ground. He hit his head hard, but he insisted he was okay and just wanted to go home and take a nap. I knew in my heart that he was not thinking clearly, and I didn't feel right letting him go home. I talked him into letting me take him to the hospital, and after some tests, it was determined he had a bad concussion. The doctors told me that if I had let him go home and sleep, things could have taken a turn for the worse. I created this blog to remind everyone to look out for each other after injuries. Not everyone thinks clearly after a head injury, and just being a good friend could save a life.