Never use tap water with your contact lenses. The FDA has recommended that contact lenses should not be exposed to water of any kind.
Do not swim, shower or use a hot tub while wearing contacts. If you do decide to wear your lenses while swimming, wear airtight swim goggles over them.
Soak your lenses in fresh disinfecting solution every night. Don’t use a wetting solution or saline solution that isn’t intended for disinfection.
Always wash your hands before handling your lenses.
Always clean your contacts immediately upon removal (unless you are wearing disposable contact lenses that are replaced daily). To clean your lenses, rub the lenses under a stream of multipurpose solution – even if using a “no-rub” solution – and store them in a clean case filled with fresh (not “topped off”) multipurpose or disinfecting solution.
Wash your case with solution and not tap water.
Replace your case at least once every 3 months with a new one.
And if you do get a red eye with a burning sensation and blurry vision that does not go away and you use contacts, do remind your doctor that you’re specifically worried about acanthamoeba and would like to make sure that you’re not at risk, as this woman visited several ophthalmologists every 2 days and not one of them thought about it. The treatment was eye drops. Now she is blind and needs a transplant.
Reading all of this makes me thankful me in my 20s was too lazy to get contacts (despite being too self-conscious for glasses), and me in my 30s was well-off enough to afford LASIK…
It’s fine if you’re careful. I never got Lasik because you can only get it once and it only lasts 10-15 years until your eyesight degrades again. Then it’s back to glasses or contacts. Especially after 45-50 when it really goes downhill.
I skipped Lasik because my yearly contacts cost is 120 €, which over 15 years would net me 1800€. Lasik was quoted to me at 5000 € for both eyes. You could be a statistical fortuity and it lasts more than 15 years, but considering you get used to something it’s not permanent and have to change back i figured might as well stick with lenses.
There’s also orthokerathology, which is some rigid contacts you use only when sleeping that shape your eyes for up to 48 hours so you see well. They’re more expensive than contacts, cheaper than lasik and much safer because you only sleep with them. Alas, i can’t wear those because my astigmatism is too high for current technology, but i hear they’re getting better with it.
FYI if you use contacts (from https://www.allaboutvision.com/contacts/acanthamoeba-keratitis.htm with some extra tidbits from other websites i found while getting informed about this)
Never use tap water with your contact lenses. The FDA has recommended that contact lenses should not be exposed to water of any kind.
Do not swim, shower or use a hot tub while wearing contacts. If you do decide to wear your lenses while swimming, wear airtight swim goggles over them.
Soak your lenses in fresh disinfecting solution every night. Don’t use a wetting solution or saline solution that isn’t intended for disinfection.
Always wash your hands before handling your lenses.
Always clean your contacts immediately upon removal (unless you are wearing disposable contact lenses that are replaced daily). To clean your lenses, rub the lenses under a stream of multipurpose solution – even if using a “no-rub” solution – and store them in a clean case filled with fresh (not “topped off”) multipurpose or disinfecting solution.
Wash your case with solution and not tap water.
Replace your case at least once every 3 months with a new one.
And if you do get a red eye with a burning sensation and blurry vision that does not go away and you use contacts, do remind your doctor that you’re specifically worried about acanthamoeba and would like to make sure that you’re not at risk, as this woman visited several ophthalmologists every 2 days and not one of them thought about it. The treatment was eye drops. Now she is blind and needs a transplant.
Reading all of this makes me thankful me in my 20s was too lazy to get contacts (despite being too self-conscious for glasses), and me in my 30s was well-off enough to afford LASIK…
…yikes!
It’s fine if you’re careful. I never got Lasik because you can only get it once and it only lasts 10-15 years until your eyesight degrades again. Then it’s back to glasses or contacts. Especially after 45-50 when it really goes downhill.
I skipped Lasik because my yearly contacts cost is 120 €, which over 15 years would net me 1800€. Lasik was quoted to me at 5000 € for both eyes. You could be a statistical fortuity and it lasts more than 15 years, but considering you get used to something it’s not permanent and have to change back i figured might as well stick with lenses.
There’s also orthokerathology, which is some rigid contacts you use only when sleeping that shape your eyes for up to 48 hours so you see well. They’re more expensive than contacts, cheaper than lasik and much safer because you only sleep with them. Alas, i can’t wear those because my astigmatism is too high for current technology, but i hear they’re getting better with it.
I’d wear swim goggles regardless in water.