Lens water should also be used correctly.
Cleaning contact lenses is very important as bacteria build up and cause eye infection. If contact lenses are properly cleaned and rinsed, 90 percent of the bacteria on them is destroyed. The best time to clean soft contact lenses for reuse is immediately after discarding.
Step-by-step lens cleaning
Contact lenses are placed on a clean and dry palm, a few drops of daily cleaning solution are dripped onto them. The front and back surfaces of each are gently rubbed with the pinky finger. After rinsing thoroughly with the solution, it is placed in its box. The chambers of the box are filled with solution, the lid is closed, and the lenses are kept in this solution until they are used again. If it is not used every day, the solution in which the lens is kept should be changed according to the instructions on the label. The cleaning solution should never be reused. Pay attention to the following rules for lens cleaning:
- Hands should be washed before touching lenses when removing, wearing or cleaning lenses. Otherwise, bacteria and germs on the hands can pass to the lenses.
- Soap residues on hands must be thoroughly rinsed before touching. Anti-bacterial liquid soaps that do not contain perfume should be preferred to bar soaps that are easier to get dirty.
- A lint-free towel should be used to prevent towel fibers from contaminating the lens.
- Lens boxes filled with solution should be cleaned regularly.
- Cleaning solutions and lens cases should be changed at the frequency specified by the doctor.
- The mouths of the solution bottles should not be touched while the bottle is open. The bottle should be closed immediately after use.
- The expiry date of the solution should be checked, outdated solutions should never be used.
- Each time the lens is put on the eye, the solution in its box should be emptied, rinsed with a disinfectant solution and left to dry.
- It is important that the box is dry; because microbes cannot reproduce in dry ambient conditions. Therefore, lenses should be stored in a damp environment (like a bedroom instead of a bathroom) and dried by turning the box upside down.
- Lens cases should be changed frequently, ideally once a month.
- Every lens used several times must be cleaned and disinfected before being reinserted into the eye. This is because substances (protein, lipid) and microbes (pathogenic bacteria) naturally found in tears accumulate on the lens and cause problems.
Do contact lenses pass oxygen?
The materials from which the lenses are made are biologically compatible with the eye. These materials, similar to those used in the medicine and pharmaceutical industries, ensure sufficient oxygen to pass through the lens. With modern silicone hydrogel contact lenses, there is no problem of oxygen deprivation of the eye. For healthy eyes, a certain amount of oxygen must reach the cornea, which is the front window of the eye. Therefore, the oxygen in the air must pass through the contact lenses.
