How To Clean Your Contact Lenses - Learn All The Secrets

Cleaning your contacts is a necessary part of your eye care regimen, regardless of what type of contact lenses you wear. It is typical for most contact users to clean their contacts every night after removing them from their eyes. If you wear the night and day type of contact lenses, they will need to be removed and cleaned regularly. Cleaning your contacts is easy if you use the right products. Let's have a look at some of these products.

Saline

For rinsing and storing, saline is one of the most commonly used products with contact lens hygiene. When you remove your contacts at night, store them in saline until they are used the next day. Though rinsing and storing is a perfect contact lens use for saline, it is not a suitable product for disinfecting or cleaning your contacts.

Daily Cleaners

Daily cleaners are solutions used for cleaning contact lenses on a daily basis. All it takes is a few drops of the cleaner into the palm of your hand. Then you gently rub the contact lenses in the cleaner. It takes approximately thirty seconds; you should ensure that you have cleaned both sides of the contacts. More specialized products are used for disinfecting and rinsing your contact lenses.

Multi-purpose Solutions

These products do it all. They have the ability to store, disinfect, rinse, and clean your contact lenses all at once. Multi-purpose Solutions are perhaps the most popular products amongst contact lens users; they can do everything for you. All you have to do is to store your contact lenses in this solution, clean them, rinse them, and you are ready to go. No other products are required.

Hydrogen Peroxide

Hydrogen Peroxide performs the same duties as the multi-purpose solution; they can rinse, store, clean and disinfect your contact lenses. Rubbing the contacts in the solution is not necessary as they simply need to soak for just a few minutes. The great thing about hydrogen peroxide is that it won't burn the eyes and it is a no-rub product. However, when you place the contacts in your eyes, it is still a good idea to have used another product to rinse the lenses first.

Disinfection and Cleaning

This is a solution used to both clean and disinfect contact lenses, as the name implies. When it comes to cleaning, the method normally used is agitation or ultrasonic waves. To disinfect the lenses, a UV light or multi-purpose solution is used. The brand selected will provide you with specific instructions for their use; the instructions should be strictly followed to avoid damaging the contacts and your eyes.

Enzymatic Cleansers

Typically used weekly, this product is used to rid the contacts of protein. Available only in tablet form, they can be used with a disinfectant or saline.

Protein Removal

Protein removal is used in combination with another product such as a multi-purpose solution, and relieves the contact of protein build-up. Available in liquid form, it is typical to do a protein removal daily. Protein is removal is done by placing the normal solution in the contact lens case, then adding one to two drops of the protein remover into the case, and then inserting the contact lenses.

Eye Drops

For most contact lens wearers, eye drops are a necessity. They provide the lubrication your eyes need, relieves dryness, and moistens the contact lenses. Only use eye drop brands that are safe for use with contact lenses and are reliable at the same time.

Though there are many products used to take care of your contact lenses, the products listed above are among the most popular and commonly used by contact lens wearers. Your contact lens cleaners should be at the top of your list with every trip you make to the store, so you are never without them.