Watch out in summer! Recommendations for using contact lenses and avoiding health problems

The use of contact lenses It has meant a great advance for the quality of life of patients with or hyperopia.

Although there are people who use them sporadically, either for comfort or for special occasions for aesthetic reasons, there are those who use them daily. And with the arrival of summer, doubts arise.

The heat, the pool, the beach, the salt, the chlorine… They are enemies of contact lenses, but as this portal reminds Dr. Salvador Garcia-Delpechpresident of the:

• If correct conservation and maintenance is maintained, contact lenses can be used normally during the summer season.

The golden rule for caring for contact lenses

Regardless of the season we are in, there are a series of instructions that we must strictly follow to avoid eye infections and prolong the useful life of the contact lenses, especially if they are monthly.

1. Handwashing with soap before removing or handling the lenses.

2. For clean contact lenses, you have to place them in the palm of your hand to apply a few drops of the solution and gently rub the surface of the lens. It should be taken into account that these types of solutions have an expiration date. And in any case, once they have been opened they expire after three months. If expired are used, they will not fulfill the disinfection function.

3. He case. Just as you have to clean the contact lenses, the case where they are stored must also be clean. For its disinfection, you should not use tap water, but the same solution that is used for contact lenses.

4. The case should air dryplaced face down on a clean piece of paper.

5. The case must be replaced with a new one periodic. Specifically, specialists recommend doing it once a month.

The ophthalmologist answers the most common mistakes when wearing contact lenses freepik

Contact lenses, prohibited on the beach or the pool?

Dr. García-Delpech recommends Do not use contact lenses to bathe on the beach, not in the pool and even not even in the shower. Because in the water there are microorganisms that could get trapped in the contact lenses themselves and cause eye infections.

Therefore, for those people for whom it is really essential, should opt for prescription glasses for swimming, that have been specially designed with lenses that remain as dry and sharp as possible, as well as very flexible bridges that adapt to all types of faces.

Is it safe to clean contact lenses with water?

He insists on a very simple rule to remember: “contact lenses cannot be cleaned or stored in water”. And we are not only referring to tap and mineral water, but also to distilled.

And that is because there is a high risk of infectious keratitiswhich is inflammation of the cornea caused by a Proterozoic microorganism of the amoeba family, called Acanthamoeba. The infection is caused by contact with this amoeba that is usually present in fresh water.

Ocular keratitis is caused by cleaning the lenses with fresh water. freepik

By coming into contact with the lens, and later with our eye, it can cause damage to the cornea.

The severity of this infection will depend on whether it has been diagnosed early and appropriate treatment has been started.

But you have to know that it is not nonsense since, in the worst case, patients suffering from keratitis may require a cornea transplant or lose their vision.

The symptoms of ocular keratitis are:

• Itchy eyes.

• redness.

• tearing

• Difficulty opening the .

• Sandy feeling.

• Inflammation of the eyelids.

How to relieve dry eyes

Chlorine from swimming pools can irritate the eyes and . And it is a disease that affects, above all, contact lens wearers.

The most common symptoms of dry eye are discomfort such as gritty feelinghave a foreign body, notice a certain burning…

Wearing contact lenses can also cause dry eyes. freepik

To alleviate the symptoms of this syndrome the following recommendations can be followed:

• To blink frequently.

• Take a break from the screen periodically. For this, we can use the 20/20/20 rulewhich consists of stopping looking at any screen for 20 seconds, every 20 minutes, and focusing your gaze on any point more than 20 feet (about six meters).

• Wear humidifiers to increase humidity, whether on the desk while you work or on the nightstand while you sleep.

• Avoid prolonged use of contact lenses (do not use them at night and hydrate with artificial tears available over the counter in pharmacies).
• eyelid hygiene. This is done with wipes indicated for this, combing the eyelashes from root to tip.