How to Wear Contact Lenses: The Down and Dirty

Many people like to wear contact lenses to avoid the burden of glasses. Glasses obscure your vision if they get covered in dirt or grease. They slip down your nose when you sweat. They can be fragile and easy to break. They fog up when you walk out of the cold into a warm building in the winter. They bug some people because the frames are constantly in your field of vision, and your peripheral vision is fuzzy.

All these problems are resolved with contact lenses. I have worn soft contact lenses for several years and they have increased my quality of life. So here's some tips for people who would like contact lenses.

First, decide what type you'd like to get. When you get your eye exam, the doctor can give you more information about the different types that are offered and which one would work best for you. The big difference is between hard and soft contact lenses. Most people, including me, wear soft contact lenses, but I have a friend who wears hard lenses. Some people say hard lenses can help prevent eyesight from getting worse, but they also need to be cleaned more thoroughly because they last longer.

I wear soft contact lenses that are supposed to be replaced every two weeks. However, I rarely replace them within two weeks and sometimes wear the contact lenses for up to two months. I usually just wear them until they start getting uncomfortable when I wear them for several hours. For me, this is the indication that I should change to a new pair of contact lenses. This practice of stretching your contact lens' life will increase your risk of getting eye infections, but it depends a lot on the person. For instance, for me, I have had very little trouble with eye infections-maybe one a year. From talking to my friends, many people wear soft contact lenses longer than they are "supposed to." However, if you want to be safe, you should follow the instructions that come with your contact lenses.

Contact lenses can also be worn when your are swimming, as long as you have a decent pair of goggles. This was a big help for me when I was on the swim team, because with the distortion of vision that you get in the water, you need all the help you can get to see well during a race. It is important to make sure your goggles are securely strapped on, because if they leak, the water could wash a contact lens out of your eye. This has happened to me.

If a contact lens comes out of your eye in a location where you don't have your contact lens solution, it's a little bit of a problem. The safest thing to do is to throw the lens (and the other contact lens) out. However, if this is not an option for whatever reason, you can place the contact lens in your mouth to moisten it and to clean any dirt off of it. Then you can try to reinsert it.

Good luck!