There are many reasons you may wish to wear contacts. Convenience, better sight, cosmetic preference, or an active lifestyle are all great motivations to skip the glasses in favor of contact lenses. Before you delve into the world of contacts, you should ask your Phoenix optometrist these three questions.

How Do I Properly Care for My Lenses?

One of the most important pieces of information you need to have if you are going to ditch your glasses is how to clean, store, and inspect your lenses. You will want to know what the appropriate replacement schedule is and what types of products you should use for cleaning, rinsing, rehydrating, and soaking. All solutions are not created equally and some have been shown to have adverse effects on optometric patients, so be sure to follow your doctor’s recommendations.

How Can I Wear my Lenses Safely?

Be sure to ask your eye doctor about how to wear your contacts. Critical information you will need to have is the maximum length of time you should wear the lenses per day. During what activities (swimming for example) would you NOT want to wear your lenses? At what point, if any, should you opt to wear your glasses instead? Are you able to sleep in your lenses? This last question is difficult because many newer lenses do not present a safety issue if you sleep in them, but eye doctors still encourage you to remove them nightly anytime possible. Removing your lenses at night allows your eye to receive oxygen, which can be somewhat limited by wearing contacts.

Are They Safe?

Many patients who have only had experience with glasses worry that the lens will make its way behind your eye or get stuck in your eye socket somewhere. You may also need to know if your eye will be damaged if one of your lenses tears, or if your vision will get worse if you wear them instead of glasses. Another common question is if a foreign object or debris entering your eye can blind you. There are many myths about wearing contacts, but there are also many cautions around their use.

Eye doctors meet new contact lens patients every day and understand your concern about wearing them. Do not hesitate to ask your optometrist about the ins and outs of your new lenses and how you can be a responsible contact wearer.