The incredible importance of teaching teens to care for their contact lenses.

Did you know that 45% of  the  3.6 million teens who currently wear contact lenses don’t replace them as prescribed?  The CDC found that an astounding 85% of contact lens-wearing teens have at least one bad habit that puts them in danger of eye infection.

True confessions:

41% of teens don’t visit an eye doctor once a year

27% admit that they go swimming in their contact lenses

30% sleep at night or nap during the day in them

41% don’t routinely replace their contact lens cases

Only 4.2% of teens have ever reported a ‘red or painful’ eye that required a visit to the eye doctor to their own family eye doctor!

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

RISKS

Not replacing contact lenses and/or their storage cases as recommended increases the risk for contact lens-related eye infections…especially the opportunity to introduce microorganisms, partly because the moist surfaces of the lens and case provide an environment favorable to microbial growth.

INFECTIONS

In the last 3 years there have been outbreaks of Acanthamoeba keratitis and Fusarium keratitis.  This is what has raised the importance of contact lens care and wear.

7 TIPS FOR TEENS

  1. Replace your contact lens case regularly
  2. Visit your eye doctor yearly.
  3. Buy contact lenses from a trusted source.
  4. Don’t sleep or nap in them.
  5. Don’t swim or shower while wearing contacts.
  6. Never, ever share contact lenses with anyone.
  7. Don’t clean or rinse them in tap water.

contact lens infographic maple grove eye doctors