The document provides 10 things that contact lens wearers should never do. These include letting contacts come into contact with water, touching them with unwashed hands, sleeping in lenses not approved for overnight wear, wearing ripped or expired lenses, and not seeing a doctor if eyes feel uncomfortable while wearing contacts. The document emphasizes that many contact wearers are unaware of proper lens care and don't realize the risks of certain behaviors.

1. 10 Things
Contact
Lens
Wearers
Should
Never Do

2. • More than 30 million people in the U.S. wear contacts, but that doesn’t really
mean they take care of them quite as carefully as they’re supposed to. If you’ve
worn contacts all your life and have never gotten an eye infection, you may think
you’re a profession one—but you’re probably putting your eyes at risk in at least
one way, if not more. But you don't know that.
• Research find that eye patients don’t take care of their contact lenses exactly as
they should, and may not even know they’re slacking. One 2012 study found
that 85 percent of eye patients surveyed perceived themselves as compliant
with the proper contact lens care practices, but in fact, only 0.4 percent were
fully compliant. (The study was comprised of just 281 people, so that meant only
one single person followed the proper procedures.)
• There are plenty of ways you can put your eyes at risk when you wear contact
lenses, some of which you might not even realize are dangerous. But you don't
mind them. Here are 11 things you should never do with your contacts.

3. 1. DON’T LET THEM COME INTO CONTACT
WITH WATER
The water in a swimming pool, a lake, the
ocean, or even inside your home isn’t sterile,
and that can mean bad things if that water
gets into your contacts. People don't “really
realize it could be a sight threatening move” to
swim in contacts. it's not because they might
float away: Soft contacts can change shape
when wet, which can sometimes cause micro-
abrasions on the cornea. And if that's not
terrify enough, there's an amoeba called
Acanthamoeba that can live even in
chlorinated water—and if it gets into your
contacts, it can use the micro-abrasions to
burrow inside your cornea, causing infection.

4. 2. SERIOUSLY, ANY WATER. OR ANY
OTHER LIQUID, FOR THAT MATTER.
That means you should only touch
your contact lenses if your hands are
completely dry. In general, don’t let
anything touch your contacts that
doesn’t explicitly state it’s made for
contact lenses. Saline solution won’t
cut it, and neither will regular eye
drops. Stick to solutions and drops
that explicitly say “for contacts” on
the bottle.

5. 3. DON’T PUT THEM IN BEFORE YOU
START YOUR MORNING ROUTINE
As good as it is to be able to read the
shampoo bottle, you shouldn’t put your
contacts in before you shower or wash
your face, because—you guessed it—of
the risk of exposing your lenses to tap
water. You should also wait to put them in
after you blow dry your hair or apply
hairspray, because those can dry out your
lenses.

6. 4. BUT DON'T WAIT UNTIL AFTER YOU APPLY
MAKEUP.
• You should put your contacts in before you put on your makeup, or risk damaging your lenses. If
you have any makeup residue on your hands after you finish perfecting your eyeliner or
contouring, and then you put in your contacts, you could get that on your lenses.
• Avoid waterproof makeup, because if that gets on your contacts, the oils in it can’t be washed
away by blinking. That could potentially cause your contacts to blur or damage the surface of the
lens. Even if you wash your contacts with solution later, contact solution isn’t designed to clean up
those types of oils, and it may not entirely remove them.
• Wearing contacts may also inhibit certain looks, unfortunately. You shouldn’t apply mascara all
the way from the base of your lashes up, since you are more likely to get makeup in your eye that
way. Instead, apply it from the midway point. And you shouldn’t use eyeliner on the inner lid of
your eye. Apply it to the skin above your lashes instead.

7. 5. DON’T PUT YOUR DIRTY HANDS ON THEM.
• You shouldn’t stick your dirty
fingers in your eyes, period,
but you definitely shouldn’t
touch your contacts with them,
for all of the usual reasons
involving bacteria, oils, and
other gross, damaging
substances. You should always
wash and dry your hands
thoroughly before you touch
your lenses.

8. 6. DON’T SLEEP IN THEM .
Sleeping in your contacts can lead to infection,
too. Most contact-wearers know whether or not
they’re allowed to sleep in their specific lenses,
but you might not realize how risky wearing
non-approved lenses to bed can be. “You’re
greatly risking your sight” by sleeping in a lens
that’s not approved for overnight use, Smith-
Jaynes says. Because you don’t blink in your
sleep, tears aren’t washing under your lenses,
and your eye isn’t getting enough oxygen, both
of which make it easier to get an infection.
Sleeping in your contacts can lead to
complications like corneal ulcers or a condition
known as Contact Lens Induced Acute Red Eye
(CLARE).

9. 7. DROPPED YOUR CONTACT? DON'T PUT IT IN
YOUR MOUTH AND THEN BACK IN YOUR EYE.
• Every once in a while, one of your contact
lenses might come out in a public place, but
you really shouldn’t root around on the floor
trying to find it and put it straight back in—
even if it means not being able to see for a
while. If you do find the missing lens, don’t
rinse it with tap water, and definitely don’t
put it in your mouth. Ideally, you should just
throw it away. To stay on the safe side, carry
around an emergency pair of glasses or pair of
disposable lenses in your bag or your car, or
stash them in your desk at work.

10. 8. DON’T WEAR A RIPPED LENS.
• Besides being terribly uncomfortable,
there’s a more serious reason to
immediately toss a torn lens, even if it
means being unable to see for the rest
of the day. The jagged edge of the
ripped lens can scratch your cornea.
And because the lens won’t hold its
regular shape, it won’t fit against your
eye the same way, and is more likely to
move around and possibly tear further,
leaving you with bits of contact lens in
your eye.

11. 9. DON’T WEAR THEM FOR TOO LONG.
Just because you can still see clearly out of
your contact lenses doesn’t mean you should
can keep using them for longer than you’re
supposed to. If you wear your daily-use or
weekly-use contacts for a month, it can, in the
worst cases, lead to serious complications like
scarring of the cornea and loss of vision. Daily
disposable lenses, for instance, are made of a
thinner material than contacts designed for
longer use, and they're not made to allow the
right amount of oxygen and moisture into
your eye for an entire month. The few dollars
you might save by not opening a new pack
aren't worth the damage it can cause.

12. 10. DON’T WEAR THEM WHEN SOMETHING IS
WRONG.
• If your eyes feel uncomfortable,
don’t power through it; go see your
doctor. If you notice any pain or
redness in your eyes, take your
contacts out and consult an
optometrist. You don't want to let a
serious infection go unchecked.

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