A study performed by Bausch & Lomb this past summer determined that an alarming number of adults are using dangerous chemicals instead of lens solution to keep their lenses moist. Everything from baby oil, to coke to petroleum jelly was reportedly used as a substitute to actual lens solution by 20% of the two thousand adults polled in the United Kingdom.
Even more of the respondants reported that they have used spit when putting lenses in their eyes. Since we know that the typical adult mouth contains hundreds of varieties of germs, this is clearly not a good idea. Moreover, far too many individuals assume that water from a tap or bottle is a safe replacement for contact solution, nevertheless even those can contain microorganisms that can cause damage to the eye and have been associated with Acanthamoeba keratitis, an infection that threatens your eyesight. Even moreso, if water enters your eyes from a pool, ocean or even a bath while your lenses are in, it's recommended to take out your contacts as soon as you can and thoroughly rinse them to rinse off any parasites that may have adhered to them.
Disinfecting your contacts is an absolute and only properly labeled contact disinfectants should be used. Don't ever store your lenses in water! Leaving contacts in water does not thoroughly clean them and dangerous microorganisms can multiply on your contacts in minutes and enter your eyes once you put them in. In addition, contact solution is made to compliment the saltiness of your tears and conversely water can cause a reaction which makes your contacts change shape or stick causing discomfort and blurred vision.
At times that necessary storage or cleansing is not possible for you, consider using daily disposable contact lenses as opposed to resusable lenses. Be sure to take into consideration your way of life when you are deciding which type of contacts to purchase.
Prior to wearing your first pair of contact lenses be sure you learn with your eye doctor the proper way to care for and store them.
Only those who are capable of understanding the proper way to care for contact lenses and how important this is should wear contact lenses, particularly long-term wear contacts. Failure to do so can cause serious damage to the eyes or even total loss of sight.