Once you have the hand, wearing lenses becomes one of the easiest gestures. The most restrictive, but no less necessary, is to keep them constantly clean. Often, it is the ease that wins, pushing users to neglect certain basic hygiene rules. Sleeping with it, swimming with it or using the wrong cleaning products can be dangerous for eye health. In extreme cases it can even lead to blindness.
A recent study by the Center for Disease Control And Prevention, relayed by the Daily Mail, once again sounds the alarm about non-compliance with strict hygiene rules. Constantly wearing your lenses or improperly cleaning them can cause vision loss. Scientists point out that this may be due to inflammation of the cornea, such as keratitis, or the ingress of microorganisms present in the water.
In addition to the risks it points to, the study reveals that the majority of contact lens wearers are unaware of the hygiene rules to adopt. By analyzing the routine of 1000 users, it appears that more than half sleep with their lenses. Eight out of ten people keep them in the shower while six out of ten go so far as to bathe in them. When it comes to cleaning accessories, 17% admit to washing them with tap water.
Faced with these alarming conclusions, the prevention center reiterates some recommendations in terms of lens hygiene:
– Wash hands with soap and dry them properly before handling contact lenses.
– Remove contact lenses before showering, swimming and sleeping.
– Rinse the lenses with an antiseptic solution each time you remove them.
– Clean the box with a disinfectant solution.
