Eye infections are common in the summer months as people swim and water ski more. Those at high risk for summertime eye infections related to water sports are contact lens wearers. Your optometrist gave you instructions when you were fitting for contacts, and you’re probably already following them. These additional helpful tips are worth repeating for prevention eye infections:
1. Never use tap water, bottled water or distilled water to rinse or store your contact lenses. Only use a sterile contact lens solution that is specifically designed for both rinsing and storing. The EPA and local water filtration plants screen our water for certain microorganisms that are known to cause harm, but some viruses, bacteria, algae, and protozoa can remain. These microorganisms that live in your drinking water aren’t likely to cause health problems…unless they get into the delicate tissues of your eyes.
2. After you swim, water ski, or do any sort of activity in the water, take your contact lenses out and rinse them in your sterile contact lens solution. Then you can put them back in. Again, the reason is to keep your eyes free of any of the potentially harmful microorganisms that live in the water.
3. Change your contact lenses as frequently as recommended by your doctor. Depending on the type of lens, contacts might last anywhere from two weeks to a year. Follow these recommendations; as James F. Longenecker, O. D., of Longenecker Vision & Associates, says, “Contacts are cheap. Eyes aren’t.” Some optometrists will provide their patients with a chart to help them keep track of when to change their lenses.
4. Replace your contact lens storage case every two months. In between, do not clean your lens case with tap water or even distilled or bottled water. Use the same rinsing and storing solution you use for your contacts, blot the excess rinsing solution with a clean paper towel, and allow the storage case to air-dry.
5. Allow half an hour in the morning for your eyes to “breath” (your corneas get oxygen from the air, not from your respiratory system) before you put your contact lenses in. Take your lenses out at least half an hour before going to bed.