Only about 100.000 of 41 million contact lens users in the US follow the proper hygiene rules that are important for the health of their eyes
According to a survey conducted by CDC (the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) over 99 percent of the people who use contact lens have poor hygiene habits which expose them to the risk of getting infected.
41 million people in America use contact lens and according to an online survey conducted by CDC only about 100.000 of them follow the proper hygiene rules that are important for the health of their eyes. The rest of 40.0 million people who use contact lens have done at least one type of mistake regarding eye hygiene that exposed them to infection risk. Some poor contact lens care habits are sleeping with your contact lens on, not changing the contact lens case regularly and adding fresh solution to the old one.
Contact lens users should change their contact lens case at least once every three months. However according to the research four fifths of the participants in the survey said that they use their cases for a longer period of time. Most contact lens users neither respect the hygiene habits regarding how they are supposed to use the solution. Experts say that the solution in which the lenses are kept should be changed after every use before placing the lens in the case. More than half of the participants in the survey reported that they do not replace the solution, but just add new solution to the one that is already in the case. In addition half of contact lens wearers said that they have slept with their contacts on.
Medical epidemiologist Dr. Jennifer Cope from CDC said that a large number of people might not be aware of the proper ways in which one should take care of their contact lens. She also added:
Good vision contributes to overall well-being and independence for people of all ages, so it’s important not to cut corners on healthy contact lens wear and care.”
According to CDC a single bad hygiene habit increases the risk of eye infection by five times. Besides the fact that the majority of contact lens users do not respect the essential steps they should follow only one third of them have sought the doctor’s help when they experienced problems such as red or painful eyes.
Image Source: eyecandys.com
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.