How to Wear Contacts: Basic Guidelines and
Quick Tips
The first rule of successful contact lens wear is
to follow your eye care professional's directions.
When you get your contact lenses, your eye care professional
or a staff member will teach you all about cleaning,
disinfecting, storing and replacing your lenses according
to the prescribed schedule. While this may sound complicated
at first, these are simple processes and very easy
to learn. Plus, there are many multi-purpose contact
lens solutions that clean and disinfect in one step.
The key is to get in the habit of caring for your
lenses conscientiously.
Quick Lens Care Tips
Always wash and rinse your hands thoroughly before
you handle your lenses.
To avoid getting your lenses mixed up, always apply
(or remove) your lenses, one at a time, in the same
order.
Never use eye drops or solutions that aren't specifically
for contact lenses.
Don't use saliva to try and wet or clean your lenses.
Don't sleep in your lenses (unless you wear lenses
that are specifically designed for continuous wear
and your eye care professional has prescribed them
for that wear schedule).
Clean, rinse and disinfect your lenses every time
you remove them.
Keep all your solution bottles tightly capped when
you're not using them.
Don't let the tip of solution bottles touch any surface
(including your fingers, eyes or lenses).
Never use expired lens solutions.
Never re-use lens solutions.
Never swap lenses with someone else.
Rinse your lens case every day and let it air-dry.
Replace your lens case every three months (or more
frequently).
Don't let cosmetics like soap, makeup, moisturizers
or sunscreen touch your lenses.
Never wear your lenses when you're going to be around
irritating fumes or vapors (paint, hairspray, oven
cleaner, etc.)
Don't swim or go in a hot tub while wearing your
lenses.
