If you’re one of the 45 million Americans who wear contact lenses, you know what a great choice they can be, whether you play sports, want to avoid the nuisance of foggy glasses or simply find yourself feeling more confident in them. However, it may be time to give your contact lens care routine a makeover, particularly if your lenses feel dry or uncomfortable.
Unfortunately, one in five contact lens wearers find lenses to be less comfortable by the end of the day. Consider the following tips for all-day comfort:
Practice healthy tech habits Long hours on screens can be a contributing factor to eye discomfort, mainly because of less blinking; however, making a few adjustments can help. The experts at Bausch + Lomb recommend following the 20-20-20 rule.
For every 20 minutes of screen time, take a 20 second break to look at something 20 feet away. If you work with computers all day, you should also remember to blink regularly. It can be surprisingly easy to forget to blink when you’re focused on the next deadline! Finally, adjust the brightness and text size on your devices to reduce eye strain and optimize comfort.
Insert and remove contacts with care The order of steps you follow as you insert and remove your contacts matters. In the morning or as you’re getting ready to go out, insert contact lenses with clean hands before applying makeup. Before bed, wash your hands, remove your contacts and clean your lenses before going to sleep. One-third of contact lens wearers have fallen asleep in their lenses, but doing so increases the risk of infection.
Follow lens care directions According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 40-90% of contact lens wearers do not properly follow their contact lenses’ care instructions. It is recommended to follow the complete recommended lens rubbing and rinsing times in the product labeling to adequately disinfect your lenses and reduce the risk of contact lens contamination.
Reduced rubbing or rinsing time may not adequately clean your lenses. And never “top off” or reuse solution. Fill the lens case with fresh solution every time you store your lenses — don’t cut corners!
Clean and moisturize One in three contact lens wearers experiences dry lenses, and one in five find lenses to be less comfortable by the end of the day. Show your eyes some love by using a contact lens solution recommended by board-certified optometrists, one that is uniquely-formulated for dry, uncomfortable contact lenses. Biotrue Hydration Plus Multi-Purpose Solution not only offers exceptional cleaning and disinfection and dissolves protein build-up, it’s also formulated with your eyes’ biology in mind to promote all-day comfort. It keeps more moisture on your contacts as well as provides up to 20 hours of moisture. For more information and complete use instructions, visit www.biotrue.com.
Stop chalking up dry, uncomfortable lenses to being a regular part of wearing contacts. With a few tweaks to your routine, you can experience comfort throughout the day. (SPT)
