Wearing and Caring for Contact Lenses

Contact lenses are a medical device that requires a prescription … even if they are not for vision correction. When you have an eye exam, your eye care professional will assess the health of your eyes and also check for nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness (hyperopia), and astigmatism. While you look at an eye chart, your eye care professional will measure your vision precisely, and, if necessary, determine a prescription for corrective lenses.

We'll help you with the basics of contact lens wear and care to help keep your eyes healthy and comfortable. Of course, regular check-up examinations by your eye care professional are an important part of wearing contact lenses. And we recommend that you always follow your eye care professional's directions.

Your Replacement Schedule

Contact lenses are designed for specific wearing times. Depending on what’s best for your eyes, your eye care professional may recommend a lens designed for daily replacement, or a lens designed for frequent/planned replacement.

Daily disposable wear

The contacts lens is discarded after each removal
Frequent/Planned Replacement - the contact lens is cleaned, rinsed and disinfected each time it is removed from the eye and discarded after the recommended wearing period prescribed by the eye care professional.
It’s really important to follow the replacement schedule your eye care professional gave you – it tells you when you need new lenses. Following it will help keep your eyes healthy and comfortable – so make sure you stick to it.

Handling contact lenses

Cleanliness is an important aspect of proper contact lens care and handling of your new lenses. Your hands should be clean and free of any foreign substances when you handle your lenses:

Always wash your hands thoroughly with a mild soap, rinse completely, and dry with a lint-free towel before touching your lenses.
Avoid the use of soaps containing cold cream, lotion, or oily cosmetics before handling your lenses, since these substances may come into contact with the lenses and interfere with successful wearing.
Handle your lenses with your fingertips, and be careful to avoid contact with fingernails. It is helpful to keep your fingernails short and smooth.
Get into the habit of using proper procedures so that they become automatic. Also see Inserting & Removing lenses.

For safe contact lens wear, follow your lens care routine:

Always wash, rinse, and dry hands before handling contact lenses.
Always use fresh, unexpired lens care solutions.
Use the recommended lens care system and carefully follow instructions on solution labeling. Different solutions cannot always be used together, and not all solutions are safe for use with all lenses. Do not alternate or mix lens care systems unless indicated on solution labeling.
Always remove, clean, rinse, enzyme, and disinfect your lenses according to the schedule prescribed by your eye care professional. The use of an enzyme or any cleaning solution does not substitute for disinfection.

Do not use saliva or anything other than the recommended solutions for lubricating or rewetting your lenses. Do not put lenses in your mouth.

Lenses prescribed in a frequent replacement program should be thrown away after the expiration of the wearing period prescribed by your eye care professional.
Never rinse your lenses in water from the tap. There are two reasons for this:
Tap water contains many impurities that can contaminate or damage your lenses and may lead to eye infection or injury.

You might lose the lens down the drain.

Clean one lens first (always the same lens first to avoid mix-ups), rinse the lens thoroughly with recommended saline or disinfecting solution to remove the cleaning solution, mucus, and film from the lens surface. Follow the instructions provided in the cleaning solution labeling. Put that lens into the correct chamber of the lens storage case. Then repeat the procedure for the second lens.

After cleaning, and rinsing, disinfect lenses using the system recommended by your eye care professional. Follow the instructions provided in the disinfection solution labeling.
To store lenses, disinfect, and leave them in the closed/unopened case until ready to wear. If lenses are not to be used immediately after disinfection, you should consult the labeling of the storage solution for information on lens storage.
After removing your lenses from the lens case, empty and rinse the lens storage case with the solution(s) recommended by the lens case manufacturer; then allow the lens case to air dry. When the case is used again, refill it with fresh storage solution. Replace lens case at regular intervals.

Your eye care professional may recommend a lubricating/rewetting solution to wet (lubricate) your lenses while you are wearing them to make them more comfortable

How to Care for Your Contact Lenses with Biotrue Solution

It is easy to care for frequent/planned replacement contact lenses that you use for more than a day. Just be sure to follow the routine your eye care professional recommends. Biotrue solution conditions clean, removes protein, disinfects, rinses, and stores soft contact lenses including silicone hydrogel contact lenses.

These steps are recommended when using Biotrue Solution for a healthy and comfortable contact lens wearing experience:

STEP 1: Place at least 3 drops of Biotrue multi-purpose solution on each side of the lens surface and gently rub for 20 seconds. Only use fresh solution to clean and disinfect contact lenses.
STEP 2: Thoroughly rinse each side of the lens for 5 seconds with Biotrue multi-purpose solution.
STEP 3: Place cleaned contact lenses in the lens case and fill with fresh Biotrue multi-purpose solution. Soak at least 4 hours. Remember to always use fresh solution – discard solution from lens case after each use.
Your contact lenses are now ready to wear. If any debris remains on contact lenses, rinse with Biotrue multi-purpose solution prior to insertion.

Store: If not wearing contact lenses immediately, store them in a closed lens case. Do not store your lenses in simple saline in place of Biotrue multi-purpose solution. Saline solution will not disinfect. Lenses may be stored in the unopened case until ready to wear, up to a maximum of 30 days. If you store your lenses for longer periods of time, they must be cleaned and disinfected with fresh Biotrue multi-purpose solution prior to lens insertion.

Lens Case Care

It is essential that you follow your eye care professional’s directions and all labeling instructions for proper use of lenses and lens care products, including the lens case. Contact lens cases can be a source of bacteria growth. Lens cases should be emptied, cleaned, rinsed with solutions recommended by the lens case manufacturer, and allowed to air dry each time you remove the contact lenses from it. Lens cases should be replaced at regular intervals as recommended by your eye care professional.

Adverse Reactions (Problems And What To Do)

If you notice any issue with your contact lenses such as eye-stinging, burning, itching, eye pain, comfortless than when the lens was first put in, the abnormal feeling of something in the eye, excessive watering, unusual eye secretions, redness, reduced sharpness of vision, blurred vision, rainbows or halos around objects, sensitivity to light or dry eyes you should:

Immediately remove your lenses.

If the discomfort or problem stops, then look closely at the lens. If the lens is in any way damaged, do not put the lens back on your eye. Place the lens in the storage case and contact your eye care professional. If the lens has dirt, an eyelash, or other foreign body on it, or the problem stops and the lens appears undamaged, you should thoroughly clean, rinse, and disinfect the lenses; then reinsert them. After reinsertion, if the problem continues, you should immediately remove the lenses and consult your eye care professional.
When any of the above problems continue, a serious condition may be present. You should keep the lens off your eye until your eye care professional can identify the problem.

Regular check-up examinations by your eye care professional are an important part of wearing contact lenses. We recommended that you follow your eye care professional's directions for follow-up examinations. Be sure to keep all appointments for your check-up visits.

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