Care, Insertion, & Removal
Wearing contact lenses can be very freeing; putting them in and taking them out can sometimes be a pain though! With practice however, it can be a quick process, but don’t take short cuts or you could be putting the health of your eyes and the future of your vision at risk!
Let’s review important points to remember when inserting and removing your contacts, as well as maintenance of lenses and the process itself.
WASH YOUR HANDS!!
Whether you’re wearing daily disposable, biweekly, or monthly contacts, the very first thing you should be doing every time you handle your lenses in any way, is washing your hands with soap and water, and drying them well.
Our hands carry bacteria, so even if you’re about to take your contacts out and discard them, you don’t want to be introducing bacteria to/near your eyes. It is important to dry your hands as water carries many microbes and also because the lenses are not the same pH as water (we don’t want the lens to swell or shrivel from osmosis).
HYGIENE & CARE
Hygiene is of the utmost importance with contact lenses to ensure the safety and comfort of the eyes with and without the contact lenses on.
- Keep your nails trimmed.
If you are new to wearing contacts, this also makes the practicing phase much easier. - Always use fresh solution.
Discard the solution in the contact lens case each morning.
Always clean and store your contacts in fresh solution.
Keep the solution bottle capped when not in use, and avoid touching the tip of the dispenser. - Replace your case regularly.
Just like your toothbrush, replace your CL case every 2-3 months.
Alternatively, most solutions when purchased, include a new CL case – start a new case every time you start a new bottle of solution. - Only used approved contact lens solution systems.
Do not use water, saliva (!!), or any other liquids on your contact lenses. There is a lot of chemistry we
could go into here, but just take Dr. Camy’s advice – just don’t! - Contacts First, Makeup Second.
Whether inserting or removing contact lenses, do so before applying or removing (eye) makeup.
Insertion: We don’t want to transfer eye shadow or mascara bits into the eye or onto the contact lens, so put your contacts on first, then apply your eye makeup.
Removal: Rubbing/wiping eye makeup off with contacts on can cause the contact lens to shift in the eye, to rip or tear, and/or to lodge itself somewhere in the eye it shouldn’t be. Remove the contacts before removing makeup. - No swimming/showering with contacts!
Water contains so many bacteria and parasites. - Replace your contacts as recommended.
Extending your contacts beyond the recommended/approved replacement schedule may seem like an easy way to save money and maybe time, but really you’re just vastly increasing your risk of (possibly sight-threatening) infections, irritation, etc. The contact lens is made of a porous material, and Dr. Camy can give you many shudder-worthy analogies and examples of the things that can (and do!) go wrong with poor replacement compliance. - Wash Your Hands!
(Worth repeating)
INSERTION & REMOVAL
In these videos, we are shown how to insert and remove your contact lenses safely and easily. That said, if it takes you longer or more attempts, don’t despair – Practice makes perfect!