Careless contact lens wearers could be putting their sight at risk this summer by not cleaning their contact lenses properly.

Experts report eye infections experienced by contact lens wearers increase by at least ten times over the summer holiday period, believed to be caused by poor hygiene and common summertime activities such as swimming.

Eye care professionals believe up to 90 percent of lens wearers do not clean their contact lenses correctly, putting themselves at risk of bacterial eye infections including bacterial corneal and conjunctival infections.

A new set of guidelines endorsed by The Institute for Eye Research at the University of New South Wales and released today, show users how to take better care of their lenses to ensure optimal eye health and reduce the chance of serious infection.

The guidelines were developed by leading eye health experts from Asia at the Asia Pacific Contact Lens Care Summit, held recently in Singapore.  The guidelines highlight the safety issues associated with lenses, and offer instructions on the use, maintenance and storage of lenses.

Scientia Professor Brien Holden of the University of New South Wales, CEO of the Institute for Eye Research and Chair of the Asia Pacific Contact Lens Care Summit, said contact lenses are safe if they are used properly but many people are ignoring the product use cleaning and disinfection instructions.

“Increasingly we see our patients handling their contact lenses in ways that could be contributing to serious eye infections, especially over the holiday period,” said Professor Holden. “It is easy to forget about proper contact lens cleaning and disinfection when you’re on holiday. That coupled with over-wearing contact lenses and activities such as swimming and poor bathroom hygiene all contribute to the risk of eye infection,” he said.

“Just rubbing for 10 seconds on each side of your contact lenses and rinsing both before and after using a multipurpose solution or hydrogen peroxide system, can dramatically reduce the chance of bacteria growing on the lenses and causing problems,” he explained.

Anika Corner a contact lens wearer for 20 years, came close to losing her sight permanently when she developed a serious eye infection from improper lens care.

“It was a hot summer’s day, I was flat out and stressed and the last thing on my mind was looking after my contact lenses. After a stressful day, I went swimming and soon after my eyes became infected. I needed to see an optometrist urgently. It wasn’t until the optometrist said that I could have lost my sight that I realised how important it is to look after my lenses and eye sight,” said Ms. Corner.

“The whole experience was a wakeup call to me. I just needed to care for my contacts properly and it could have been avoided,” she said.

The Institute for Eye Research is the world’s leading research institute dedicated to research in vision correction, contact lenses and eye care. 

IACLE is an educational association dedicated to raising the standard of contact lens education and promoting the safe use of contact lenses worldwide. It aims to:

• Increase the number of qualified contact lens educators
• Improve the quality of contact lens teaching and provide an educational infrastructure
• Thereby increasing the number of skilled contact lens practitioners
  

For further information, a copy of the full guidelines, images, or to arrange an interview, please contact Edelman:
Linda Duffy (02) 9291 3366 or 0424 971 402
Nayomi Prince (02) 9291 3343 or 0434 180 072

Issued by Edelman on behalf of Advanced Medical Optics (AMO).