| I've been wearing monthly contacts for 3 years now. I take them out each night and soak them in a 3% hydrogen peroxide solution (Clear Care), and dispose of them on the first of the month. I highly value my sight, so I have a routine which makes me feel comfortable with sticking things in and touching my eyes twice a day. My optometrists have always told me to avoid using water, saliva, etc, to clean the lenses, and so I do. 1. Wash my hands with soap and water, and usually scrub my fingernails with a brush. 2. Grab a fresh paper towel and pat dry my hands to sop up the water. Rubbing my hands with the paper towel, in my opinion, could leave fragments which could transfer to my eye / behind the contact. 3. Open the contact container, pull out the right lens, close the contact container. 4. Insert the right lens. 5. Repeat step 3 with left lens. 6. Clean up the area with the paper towel from step 2. I regularly (nearly every day) shower with the lenses in, though while I make an effort to avoid getting water in my eyes, splashes obviously happen. I've also spent weeks vacationing and swimming in the ocean with the lenses in. It is my hope that by removing and disinfecting the lenses each night I can ward off infections while also minimizing inconvenience. |
I had one eye infection in my life which happened right after going to the optometrist and having my eyes checked (they put a fluid into my eyes to dilate the pupil, after that putting my lens in seemed to irritate my eye and caused an infection somehow).
But one thing I can not do is shower with my lenses in. I have done it several times but it always makes me feel so uncomfortable, the feeling of my eyes becomes so annoying (I suppose due to essentially taking steaming hot showers, the rising water vapor or something irritates my eye).