How to Look After Your Eyes: Contact Lens Complications

As contact lens aficionados, it can be easy to see the whirlwind world of lens care as ordinary. But for a first-time lens user, all of the rules and regulations that come with coloured contact lenses can be a little overwhelming.

Every day, we hear new horror stories of contact lenses hurting people’s eyes irretrievably, leaving them with eye infections, corneal damage, and impaired vision. With so many frightening tales, how can you truly know that contact lenses will be safe for your eyes? Is it worth just forsaking lenses altogether?

Don’t panic! Here at Coloured Contacts, we have all the answers and more.

In this blog, we’ll go over the risks and benefits of contact lenses and how to avoid eye complications. The truth is that contact lenses are perfectly safe, as long as you’re acquiring them through trusted channels and taking good care of them. If you follow our lens DOs and DON’Ts, you’ll soon see how safe and easy to use our contact lenses are!

How do contact lenses work?

The first thing to understand is what contact lenses actually are. Contact lenses are thin lenses made of various different materials, which can be placed in your eyes to provide either a prescriptive or cosmetic benefit.

Contact lenses come in all styles and colours, from natural shades to novelty and cosplay designs. They can provide a range of durations, hydration, and impact. Some are more pigmented, with multiple tones of enhancing tints. Others are wider in diameter, with wide-eyed designs that cover the sclera. There are so many options to choose from, but the most important thing is always safety.

The risks of contact lenses:

While contact lenses from verified companies should always be safe for your eyes, there are a few things that are your responsibility, such as keeping the lenses clean and free of debris and inserting them correctly. We will go over the specifics of lens care below.

If you forget to look after your lenses correctly, or if they are in any way misused or neglected, problems may begin to occur. If your lenses are dirty, for instance, or damaged, or if they come into contact with any foreign substance, they can be harmful to your eyes. Similarly, if you wear your contact lenses for too long or too often, your eyes may lose hydration and become dry and damaged.

One of the most serious risks for your eyes is corneal infection, which can be incredibly harmful for your eyes if not treated. This is essentially an inflammation of the eye, caused by bacteria. As long as your lenses are kept completely free and clear of debris, there will never be any bacteria in contact with your eyes, and thus, you shouldn’t have any infection issues.

How can I make sure my eyes are safe?

Here is your step-by-step guide on keeping your eyes free from any risk:

1. First, make sure you’re buying your lenses from a trusted provider. Here at Coloured Contacts, all of our lenses are sourced from safe, top providers and made with high-quality lens materials. On each product page, you can find key information about the contact lens: Material, water content, flexibility, diameter, prescriptive strength, visibility, coverage, and more. You can also see official approvals of safety from the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) and the CE (European Health and Safety Conformity). As long as you’re always checking for official verification, and you always know what’s in the lenses you’re purchasing, you’re much less likely to have any issues with your eyes.

2. Always double-check the suitability of lenses with your optician. While our lenses are marketed towards absolutely everyone, we understand that various conditions may make lens-wearing difficult, and if this is the case, your optician will be able to advise you on the best course of action. For our US customers, we also use an Rx Verification system, which requires a licensed optician to confirm your prescription before you can purchase lenses from us. This is a standard procedure, and adds an extra layer of safety and ease of mind to your customer experience.

3. The next step is quality control. You can start this before you even open your package. A lot of our lenses come in blister packs, with a little window on the front of the box. This allows you to examine the contact lenses from the outside of the packaging, checking that there is no visible dirt or damage anywhere on them. Doing this before opening the package is always a good idea, as it allows you to send a defective product back sealed and unopened. If your contact lenses have been opened, we unfortunately cannot accept them back, for obvious hygiene reasons. See our Returns Policy for more.

4. If the lenses appear clean and clear, you can then begin to use them. When taking the lenses out of the packaging, you should always handle them with clean hands and with great care. If you find this difficult, you can try using sterile tweezers, like the ones in our Travel Case Kits, which will allow you to handle the lenses more delicately. The first thing to do with new lenses is to soak them in eye-safe solution for a minimum of two hours. This is to remove traces of the storage solution present in the blister packaging. This solution is meant to keep the lenses fresh and ready for use, and it’s therefore a little stronger than a regular eye-safe solution, which means it may irritate your eyes. Soaking your lenses before your first use allows you to avoid this.

5. When you’re ready to use your lenses, put them right-side-up on a clean finger. Each lens should look like a soft U-shape. If you’re seeing a sharp V-shape, the lenses may be inverted. Once you’re sure that the lenses are the right way up, you can insert them gently into your eye, either with a finger or a sterile silicone inserter. This may feel slightly uncomfortable, especially if it’s your first time wearing contact lenses, but just blink gently and allow the lenses to adjust to your eyes. Similarly, removing your lenses is something that you should do gently, allowing your eyes to adjust.

6. Different lens durations allow you to do different things. For instance, a daily lens can only be worn once and must then be disposed of. This is very convenient for any single-use outfits and is easier to care for than reusable lenses. However, you must still remember not to wear your lenses for any longer than 8 hours at a time, and never to wear them while sleeping. These are good rules of thumb to avoid drying your eyes out. Longer durations, like a 30-day or 90-day pair of lenses, can be worn again and again throughout their duration, but you must clean them in between uses, rinsing them in eye-safe solution and then leaving them to sit in a sterile lens case. No matter how long your lens duration is, always check that you’re not wearing the lenses for any longer than 8 hours at a time, and that you’re not going over the lens expiry date.

As long as you follow all of these steps, you should have a completely risk-free lens wearing experience. If, however, you find yourself with red, itchy, or irritated eyes, simply troubleshoot the problem. Ask yourself- Did I check the lenses for damage? Did I wash my hands before handling them? Were they the right way round? Were they soaked in eye-safe solution, and cleaned between uses?

You can remove the lenses, wash them with eye-safe solution, and attempt to insert them again, blinking gently. If the problem persists, you should remove the lenses, and contact your optician. It may be that your eyes are responding negatively to a specific material, or that you’re simply tired after too much lens wear. See what your optician advises, and proceed with a little caution. 

So, we hope that this guide has helped you to feel more confident in your lens care. The most important thing to remember is to always double check everything. Double check your provider, double check that your lenses are clean, and double check every step of the process.

As long as you act quickly and calmly, you will be able to keep your eyes free of any real risk. And the more experienced you become, the more lens care will become like second nature. With so many gorgeous styles, durations, and prescriptions to choose from, shop safe contact lenses now, and remember to wear responsibly!