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Soft contact lenses have come a long way since they came on the scene in 1971. Today the lenses are more comfortable on your eyes, healthier for your eyes, more accurate in their prescription for your vision and come in many different options to fit many different lifestyle needs.
Contacts may be useful for people with very high prescriptions who don't want to deal with constantly needing to wear thick glasses. They may also be useful for people playing sports or with hobbies where glasses would get in the way. Some teenagers are not as confident when they have to wear glasses; contact lenses can help with confidence in these cases.
Contact lenses also come with risks, unfortunately. For example wearing contact lenses on a daily basis will increase your chances of getting an infection called microbial keratitis. This condition can result in scarring on the cornea (the clear central part of the eye), which may permanently effect your vision, in rare cases leading to blindness in that eye.
The chances of getting this condition for a person without contact lenses is 1/200,000
The chances for a person who wears contact lenses during the day is 1/2,500 (almost 100X)
The chances for a person who wears contact lenses while they sleep is 1/500 (400X)
What can you do to minimize the risks?
What can you do to minimize the risks?
Develop good contact lens care habits, such as the following:
Disinfect your contact lenses at night, carefully following the solution instructions
Replace your contact lens case at least every 3 months
Clean your contact lens case with multipurpose solution and rubbing at least monthly
Discard used solution and replace it with fresh solution rather than topping off or recycling old solution
Never share non-corrective contact lenses used for cosmetic purposes
Don't wear contacts if you have an eye injury
Don't sleep in your contact lenses
Don't smoke cigarettes
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