Contact lenses or soft lenses are lenses made of thin plastic and are used in the eyes to treat various vision problems such as nearsightedness or astigmatism. The texture is soft and made from a mixture of plastic and water so it sticks easily to the eyes and is comfortable to use. However, it is important to pay attention to the duration of use of contact lenses so that they do not cause certain health problems for the eyes.
Generally, the maximum time you wear contact lenses is 10 to 12 hours per day. However, this will depend on each individual considering that everyone has different eye types and sensitivity. So, someone needs to have the awareness to take off their contact lenses when their eyes start to feel uncomfortable and not leave them on because they are lazy to take them off. Even in certain cases, quite a few individuals forget to take off their contact lenses and wear them to sleep overnight.
These things are not good for eye health because using contact lenses itself has the potential to inhibit oxygen from entering the eye, while the human cornea needs oxygen. When the oxygen needed is not sufficient, new blood vessels form inside the eye which function to carry more oxygen. The appearance of blood vessels other than normal blood vessels in the eye is quite dangerous, because it will cause problems with the sufferer's vision.
Due to prolonged use of contact lenses
Using contact lenses for a very long period of time and exceeding the recommended time limit can also have various other negative impacts on the eyes, such as:
- Pain in the eyes or eye pain
- The vision feels increasingly blurry
- Eye irritation
- Eyes become red
- Eyes become dry
- Swelling of the cornea of the eye
- Chronic inflammation that causes a person to lose tolerance for contact lenses
Please note that using contact lenses for too long is not the main cause of the risk of disease, apart from that there are several other risks that need to be considered:
Keep contact lenses clean
- Always wash contact lenses hygienically and clean your hands before installing or removing contact lenses so that they are always hygienic.
- Use the cleaning fluid recommended by your doctor or pharmacy to clean and soak contact lenses.
- Clean contact lenses after every use. Next, immediately store it in a storage box containing a hydrogen peroxide-based cleaning solution.
- The contact lens storage box needs to be cleaned regularly and replaced every three months so that it remains clean.
When to see a doctor
If you or your close relatives experience signs or symptoms that indicate eye problems after using contact lenses for too long, then use of contact lenses must be stopped temporarily until the eye condition begins to improve.
While waiting, you or your relatives can also see a doctor to find out more about the exact cause of the eye problem. So, you or your relatives can get treatment and treatment that suits the complaints they are experiencing.
Then, when you are completely declared cured and the doctor allows you to use contact lenses again, then you or your relatives can use them again. Please note that you must really pay attention to the duration of use so that the same thing does not happen twice.
Article written by dr. Dian Paramitasari, Sp.M (Eye Specialist at EMC Tangerang Hospital).