Risks Of Contact Lenses Article

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Risks of Contact Lenses

The risk of wearing contact lenses is one of the many reasons that individuals are taking a closer look at LASIK.

Author: Paula Blackburn

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The annual cost of contact lens wear infections is estimated at $20 million. And, contact lens wearers who have had infection have suffered vision loss up to 20/60 and even as bad as 20/200. It’s a known fact that soft contact lens wear is associated with a much higher risk of infections than hard contact lens wear. Although, hard contact lenses are more often associated with eye injury and are less frequently replaced.

Common Contact Lens Problems and Infections
Eliminating all risks related to contact lens wear is likely impossible, so lens wearers should know the risks associated with their wear. Some of those include:

• Bacterial keratitis – makes the cornea cloudy and may cause an abscess to develop beneath the outer layer of the cornea

• Fungal keratitis – a corneal infection that may lead to vision loss

• Acanthamoeba keratitis – a painful pus-producing infection that is found in tap water, soil and swimming pools and can lead to vision loss or eye removal

• Dry eye – wearing contact lenses can lead to a condition that dries out the eyes necessitating the need for eye drops
Areas Where an Eye Infection Can Begin
Pathogens that can cause a severe eye infection can be present most anywhere. Some of those include:

• The eye
• The environment
• The contact lens
• Contact lens paraphernalia – contact lens solution and cases
• In the lens wear itself – contributes to corneal damage and also creates an altered immune environment that can lead to infection

Understanding Eye Infection Symptoms
Knowing the symptoms associated with contact lens-related ocular infections is important for all contact lens wearers to understand. If you wear contacts and experience any of the following symptoms, you should seek treatment early, so that your eye doctor can treat the infection quickly.

• Pain
• Redness
• Sensitivity to light
• Sensation of a foreign body

Habits Leading to Increased Risk for Contact Lens Wearers
Bad lifestyle habits can also lead to increased risks for contact lens wearers, so altering those habits now before a serious eye infection occurs that could damage your eyes is important. If you frequently or even occasionally have the following habits, it’s time to change.

• Infrequent replacement of old lenses with new ones
• Swimming in a lake or river while wearing lenses
• Washing your face while wearing lenses
• Not washing your hands before inserting lenses
• Cleaning lenses at the bathroom sink
• Failure to cap the lens solution bottle
• Adding new solution to old solution in lens case
• Sleeping in your contacts – especially risky when you do so after drinking alcohol because it dehydrates your eyes

About Author

To learn more about contact lens wear and its associated risks, please visit the website of the Laser Eye Center of Silicon Valley.

Article Source: http://www.1888articles.com/author-paula-blackburn-4751.html

Risks of Contact Lenses