5 Signs It’s Time To Replace Your Contact Lenses

There’s also proper hygiene when it comes to contact lenses. Maintaining a pair of contact lenses is as challenging as your very first time of putting it on. Contact lenses have expiration dates. You have to follow this lifespan, or else it might cause serious problems to your eyes. It can range from simple eye itchiness or irritation up to serious ones like eye diseases, infections, and dry eyes.

According to a study by the Centre for Contact Lens Research at the University of Waterloo, 40% of people who wear contact lenses don’t replace their pair beyond the replacement schedule. Moreover, some of them don’t even know that their contact lenses have an expiration date.
As a contact lens wearer, you must be extra vigilant when using contact lenses. Based on the same research, even eye professionals give out wrong information about the prescribed expiration dates of the contact lenses.
In line with that, 52% of the people who wear a two-week replacement silicone hydrogel lens wear it beyond the prescribed time. Contact lenses get exposed to your eyes’ fluids, so naturally, the materials of contact lenses deteriorate over time. As a result, your eyes are prone to risks if you don’t change your contact lenses regularly.
Eye complications such as dry eyes where your cornea loses sensation can happen to you. Eye infections can also start happening, and this causes keratitis or the infection of the cornea. Lastly, the usage of contact lenses beyond the prescription date can lead to corneal ulcers. These are open sores on the outer layer of your cornea wherein you feel a burning and painful sensation.
It’s easy to sustain proper hygiene when it comes to your contact lenses. Below are some telltale signs you shouldn’t ignore:1. Cloudy lenses
Make sure to examine your lenses on a regular basis. If it’s not as clear as the first time you bought it, then your lenses might have bacteria already.
To check if you have cloudy lenses, take them out of your eyes and rinse it with the saline solution. Put them back on to check if it’s time to say goodbye to this pair.

2. The feeling of discomfort and irritation

If you’re experiencing something unusual with your contact lenses, then there’s something wrong. It’s natural for contact lenses to stick dirt and dust, so never forget to clean it with the solution.
Don’t forget to look for scratches as well, as any damage to the lenses already tells you to change them.

3. Permanent dents or bends on the contact lenses

Damaged contact lenses in any shape or form are a portal to the bacteria to pass through. Instead of protecting your eyes, it only allows unwanted substances or material at your cornea and other eye parts.

4. No UV protection

Older brands of contact lenses don’t have UV protection. If you’ve had that pair for a fairly long time, then most probably, your lenses are not protecting your eyes from UV.
Moreover, your eyes may not be getting enough oxygen because of the material of old contact lenses. Newer ones have been adjusted and modified to allow the cornea to breathe and protect the eyes from sun damage. If not prevented, your eyes can suffer from cataracts, macular degeneration, and corneal diseases.

5. Reaching prescription expiration date

Before getting a pair of contact lenses, you should go to an eye specialist to know the right type of contact lenses for you. There are different prescription expiration dates for different types of contact lenses:
• Daily disposable lenses should be discarded after you wear it for a single day.
• Disposable lenses are to be replaced every two weeks.
• Frequent replacement lenses prescribed lifespan is either until every month or every quarter.
• Traditional (reusable) lenses should be changed every six months or longer.
Before you reach the expiration date of your contact lenses, get a new one already. Ultimately, follow what’s prescribed to you.
If you’ve ticked one or a few from the checklist, then it’s time that you replace your contact lenses immediately. At the end of the day, you should make your utmost effort to keep your pair of contact lenses at its optimum shape.
Also, take note of the different types of lenses and their solutions and the materials that were used in making them. You might be allergic or irritated to some of these materials, so it’s best to consult a professional first.

Dry Eye Syndrome

Dry eye syndrome (DES or dry eye) is a chronic lack of sufficient lubrication and moisture on the surface of the eye. Its consequences range from minor irritation to the inability to wear contact lenses and an increased risk of corneal inflammation and eye infections.

Signs and Symptoms of Dry Eye

Persistent dryness, scratchiness and a burning sensation on your eyes are common symptoms of dry eye syndrome. These symptoms alone may be enough for your eye doctor to diagnose dry eye syndrome. Sometimes, he or she may want to measure the amount of tears in your eyes. A thin strip of filter paper placed at the edge of the eye, called a Schirmer test, is one way of measuring this.
Some people with dry eyes also experience a “foreign body sensation” – the feeling that something is in the eye. And it may seem odd, but sometimes dry eye syndrome can cause watery eyes, because the excessive dryness works to overstimulate production of the watery component of your eye’s tears.
 

What Causes Dry Eyes?

In dry eye syndrome, the tear glands that moisturize the eye don’t produce enough tears, or the tears have a chemical composition that causes them to evaporate too quickly.
Dry eye syndrome has several causes. It occurs:

  • As a part of the natural aging process, especially among women over age 40.
  • As a side effect of many medications, such as antihistamines, antidepressants, certain blood pressure medicines, Parkinson’s medications and birth control pills.
  • Because you live in a dry, dusty or windy climate with low humidity.

If your home or office has air conditioning or a dry heating system, that too can dry out your eyes. Another cause is insufficient blinking, such as when you’re staring at a computer screen all day.
Dry eyes are also associated with certain systemic diseases such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, rosacea or Sjogren’s Syndrome (a triad of dry eyes, dry mouth, and rheumatoid arthritis or lupus).
Long-term contact lens wear, incomplete closure of the eyelids, eyelid disease and a deficiency of the tear-producing glands are other causes.
Dry eye syndrome is more common in women, possibly due to hormone fluctuations. Recent research suggests that smoking, too, can increase your risk of dry eye syndrome. Dry eye has also been associated with incomplete lid closure following blepharoplasty – a popular cosmetic surgery to eliminate droopy eyelids.

Treatment for Dry Eye

Dry eye syndrome is an ongoing condition that treatments may be unable to cure. But the symptoms of dry eye – including dryness, scratchiness and burning – can usually be successfully managed.
Your eye care practitioner may recommend artificial tears, which are lubricating eye drops that may alleviate the dry, scratchy feeling and foreign body sensation of dry eye. Prescription eye drops for dry eye go one step further: they help increase your tear production. In some cases, your doctor may also prescribe a steroid for more immediate short-term relief.
Another option for dry eye treatment involves a tiny insert filled with a lubricating ingredient. The insert is placed just inside the lower eyelid, where it continuously releases lubrication throughout the day.
If you wear contact lenses, be aware that many artificial tears cannot be used during contact lens wear. You may need to remove your lenses before using the drops. Wait 15 minutes or longer (check the label) before reinserting them. For mild dry eye, contact lens rewetting drops may be sufficient to make your eyes feel better, but the effect is usually only temporary. Switching to another lens brand could also help.
Check the label, but better yet, check with your doctor before buying any over-the-counter eye drops. Your eye doctor will know which formulas are effective and long-lasting and which are not, as well as which eye drops will work with your contact lenses.
To reduce the effects of sun, wind and dust on dry eyes, wear sunglasses when outdoors. Wraparound styles offer the best protection.
Indoors, an air cleaner can filter out dust and other particles from the air, while a humidifier adds moisture to air that’s too dry because of air conditioning or heating.
For more significant cases of dry eye, your eye doctor may recommend punctal plugs. These tiny devices are inserted in ducts in your lids to slow the drainage of tears away from your eyes, thereby keeping your eyes more moist.
If your dry eye is caused by meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD), your doctor may recommend warm compresses and suggest an in-office procedure to clear the blocked glands and restore normal function.
Doctors sometimes also recommend special nutritional supplements containing certain essential fatty acids to decrease dry eye symptoms. Drinking more water may also offer some relief.
If medications are the cause of dry eyes, discontinuing the drug generally resolves the problem. But in this case, the benefits of the drug must be weighed against the side effect of dry eyes. Sometimes switching to a different type of medication alleviates the dry eye symptoms while keeping the needed treatment. In any case, never switch or discontinue your medications without consulting with your doctor first.
Treating any underlying eyelid disease, such as blepharitis, helps as well. This may call for antibiotic or steroid drops, plus frequent eyelid scrubs with an antibacterial shampoo.
If you are considering LASIK, be aware that dry eyes may disqualify you for the surgery, at least until your dry eye condition is successfully treated. Dry eyes increase your risk for poor healing after LASIK, so most surgeons will want to treat the dry eyes first, to ensure a good LASIK outcome. This goes for other types of vision correction surgery, as well.

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