How to Avoid Bacteria Growing on Your Contact Cases
Contact lenses can really help with making everyday normal activities convenient. You don’t have to worry about glasses falling off, or smudges on your lenses. However, unlike glasses, you do have to avoid bacteria growing in your contact cases and transferring directly into your eyes. This can lead to eye infections.
But how do you know if your contact cases are soaking in microorganisms? Unfortunately, you don’t. All you can do is reduce your risk of infection by caring for your case as rigorously as you care for your lenses. Read on to make sure you follow these five tips.
5 Practices to Keep Contact Cases Clean & Avoid Bacteria
Relying on your contact lens disinfectant to eliminate bacteria and viruses in your lens case may not be enough. While lens solutions kill most germs, they can’t compete with consistent exposure. However, taking these five steps to reduce your case’s chances of contamination can help.
1. Always Wash Your Hands Before Handling Your Case
Caring for your contact lenses requires keeping every aspect of their care as clean as possible. Dirty hands can deposit microorganisms on or into the case, making it a breeding ground for bacteria.
2. Clean Your Contact Case Regularly
Your contact case can become a petri dish without regular cleaning. When you put in your lenses, rinse your case with a fresh contact lens solution. Then, allow it to air-dry before reusing it. Always place your lenses in a clean, dry case before filling the case’s wells with fresh solution.
3. Replace Your Lens Case Every Three Months
Replacing your lens case at least every three months can save you from bacteria growing in your contact case. However, even regularly cleaned cases may become exposed to bacteria. That bacteria can adhere to the case as a biofilm.
At first, you can easily wash biofilm away. However, the biofilm can attach to the case if you miss a cleaning. The film then helps bacteria resist the disinfectant properties of your multipurpose solution.
4. Keep Your Contact Case Out of the Bathroom
If you don’t know about toilet plumes, you may want to sit down. A toilet plume is the microscopic waste particles that spray into the air when you flush a toilet. While scientists debate the distance a toilet plume can spread, many believe it is at least six feet.
Doesn’t this fact make you want to rethink your toothbrush’s location as well? If you hope to avoid contaminating your contact case with bacteria, it should not share space with your toilet.
Additionally, the humidity of your bathroom creates the perfect environment for bacteria to grow. Keeping your case near the sink might seem logical and convenient. However, storing your case in a separate room is a good way to reduce the likelihood of growing bacteria.
5. Keep Your Lens Solution Fresh and Clean
The well of your contact case should not touch anything except your contacts and contact lens solution. This solution is essential in keeping your case free from bacteria and pathogens.
Keep the tip of your solution bottle from touching any surface, including your contacts and their case. Additionally, always dump out the old solution when you remove your contacts. Leaving the old solution in your case provides microorganisms with the perfect warm, moist environment to thrive.
If you place your contacts in the old solution and top off the liquid, the bacteria push further down in the case. They can attach to your contacts and then your eye, leading to infection.
Maintain Your Eye Health with Looking Glass Optical
The optometry team at Looking Glass Optical can help you improve your overall eye health. We’ll review best practices for your contacts so that you can avoid infections due to bacteria in your contact cases. If you need new contacts or want guidance in caring for your contacts, give us a call today!
