The safest way to wear contact lenses has always been a hot topic for patients with myopia. Because contact lenses are directly in contact with our ocular surface, if you do not take sufficient care, they may cause surface damage, infection and pain. In severe cases they may even damage your sight.
Currently a new coronavirus(n-COV) is raging, and some cases have shown that transmission routes of the n-COV may include the conjunctiva. These reports causing fear among people who need wear CLs. Is it suitable to wear contact lenses during virus outbreak? If you really have to use contact lenses, will the wrong way of using them lead to an infection?
EuroEyes ophthalmologists give professional advice
There are no blood vessels on the cornea, so the cornea needs to absorb oxygen through the air, and ordinary soft contact lenses generally have poor oxygen permeability. Long-term wearing may cause corneal hypoxia, epithelial cells deficiency, and affect your vision. At the same time, it may cause micro-organism infection. Therefore, it is not advisable to wear CLs during a virus outbreak.
To the people who have to use contact lenses, how to wear and care for them correctly?
1. Preparation before wearing contact lenses
Before inserting your contact lenses, you must ensure that your hands are clean, and have been washed strictly according to the 7-step hand-washing method. During an epidemic period, many people use products such as alcohol-based disinfectant or chlorine-containing disinfectant to clean their hands and other materials. After completing disinfection, dry your hand to ensure that there is no residual disinfectant before wearing contact lenses.
2. Hygienic environment
You need to choose a relatively hygienic environment, sterilize the surface of the contact lens case and nursing liquid box in advance. Keep your fingernails short, as bacteria on the hands may contaminate or scratch the lenses.
3. Steps for wearing and removing contact lenses
Inserting: Take the lens out of the lens case, place the convex side of the lens on the tip of your index finger, add one drop of moisturizing eye liquid on the concave side, and then carefully place the lens on eye. After blinking several times, check that the lenses are on center of the cornea. It is recommended to wear and remove the lenses in the order of "right to left".
Removing:Add 1-2 drops of moisturizing eye drops into the eyes before removing the lenses, blink several times, and make sure the lenses slide on the cornea before removing the lenses.
How to care for your contact lenses
1. Use enough lens cleaning solution: after taking out of the lens, rub and rinse the lens with a multi-function care solution gently, and store in a multi-function care solution or hydrogen peroxide care solution - do not use a saline solution. Every day you use your lenses you should empty out and refill the case with fresh solution.
2. Replace the case regularly when expired. The inside and outside the lens case of the contact lens need to be cleaned daily, and should be rinsed thoroughly with fresh solution after each use.
3. Take care when you are putting in your lenses, try not to touch other areas with your hands. Do not rub your eyes when you are wearing CLs.
4. To prevent contamination, always replace the lid of solution bottle after use. The care solution should be stored under room temperature and protected from light, but it is not necessary to store it in the refrigerator.
Now is the critical time to fight against the virus. Our EuroEyes ophthalmologists remind you:
1. If you have any recent contact history with coronavirus patients, please stop wearing contact lenses immediately and observe your general condition for 14 days.
2. If fever and other symptoms occur during the observation period, you should go to hospital and consult professional physician as soon as possible.
3．After excluding n-COV as a possibility (meaning that no symptoms were present during the observation period) - if you have urgent clinic symptoms such as eye redness, eye pain, foreign body sensation, and increased discharge in the eyes, please consult a professional ophthalmologist in time. If you do not have the symptoms listed above, going to hospital is not recommended.
