Contact Lens Health Week

Contact Lens Health Week

Contact Lens Health Week takes place during the third full week of August. The collaboration is a strategy to increase public awareness and promote healthy contact lens wear and care. CDC encourages partners to raise awareness about the importance of healthy contact lens hygiene practices. These practices help to protect against serious eye infections and other illnesses. Increased awareness about the importance of proper contact lens hygiene can encourage contact lens wearers to adopt healthy habits. These habits can reduce their chances of getting an eye infection.

Being able to see well is a vital aspect of performing daily activities for most people. Worldwide, many people rely on contact lenses to improve their sight. Contact lenses can provide many benefits. They are not risk-free, especially if contact lens wearers don’t practice healthy habits. Or, take care of their contact lenses and supplies. If patients seek care quickly, most eye doctors can easily treat complications. However, more serious infections can cause pain and even permanent vision loss, depending on the cause and how long the patient waits to seek treatment. Wear a blue enamel awareness ribbon pin, fabric ribbon, or blue silicone awareness wristband bracelet to call attention to this important month.

Higher Risk of Keratitis and Contact Lens Health Week

Contact lens wear is linked to higher risk of keratitis, or inflammation of the cornea. Many contact lens wearers do not care for their contact lenses and supplies as instructed. This increases their risk of eye problems like keratitis. Many factors cause keratitis in contact lens wearers. One type of keratitis, called microbial keratitis, can occur when germs invade the cornea. These germs, such as viruses, bacteria, fungi, or parasites (amebae), are more likely to invade the eyes when contact lenses are worn for too long or are not cared for correctly. Microbial keratitis is a serious type of eye infection. For contact lens wearers, this can lead to blindness or the need for corneal transplant in the most severe cases.

What is bacterial keratitis?

Bacterial keratitis is an infection of the cornea that is caused by bacteria.

Types of bacteria that commonly cause bacterial keratitis include:

• Pseudomonas aeruginosa
• Staphylococcus aureus

Symptoms of bacterial keratitis include eye pain, eye redness, blurred vision, sensitivity to light, excessive tearing, and eye discharge. If you experience any of these symptoms, remove your contact lenses and call your eye doctor right away. If left untreated, bacterial keratitis can result in vision loss or blindness.

Bacteria are common in nature and found in the environment and on the human body. Pseudomonas bacteria can be found in soil and water. Staphylococcus aureus bacteria normally live on human skin and on the protective lining inside the body called the mucous membrane. Bacterial keratitis cannot be spread from person to person.

Risks for developing bacterial keratitis include:

Wearing contact lenses, especially:

• Overnight wear.
• Temporary reshaping of the cornea (to correct nearsightedness) by wearing a rigid contact lens overnight.
• Not disinfecting contact lenses well.
• Not cleaning contact lens cases.
• Storing or rinsing contact lenses in water.
• Using visibly contaminated lens solution.
• “Topping off” lens solution rather than discarding used solution and replacing.
• Sharing colored or decorative contact lenses.
• Recent eye injury.
• Eye disease.
• Weakened immune system.
• Problems with the eyelids or tearing.

How is bacterial keratitis diagnosed?

When you first notice unusual eye irritation, it is critical that you remove your contact lenses. Don’t wear them again until instructed to do so by your eye doctor. Your eye doctor will examine your eye. He or she may take a tiny scraping of your cornea and send a sample to a laboratory. There, the lab will analyze the sample.

Water and Contact Lenses Don’t Mix

Many people who wear contact lenses do not know that contact lenses and water are a bad combination, even when showering, swimming, or using a hot tub. Water can cause soft contact lenses to change shape, swell, and stick to the eye. This is uncomfortable, and can scratch the cornea. This makes it easier for germs to enter the eye and cause infection.

Most water is not germ-free. There are many different kinds of germs in water that can cause eye infections. A particularly dangerous germ, an ameba called Acanthamoeba, is commonly found in tap water, lake water, well water, and other water sources. This germ can cause a very severe type of eye infection called Acanthamoeba keratitis, which is often very painful and difficult to treat. Sometimes it requires a year or more of treatment. Although rare, this type of infection can result in the need for a corneal transplant, or blindness.

Keep Contact Lenses Away from All Water

For contact lens wearers, it is best to remove lenses before showering, swimming, or using a hot tub. Do not rinse or store contact lenses in water. It is also important to wash and dry hands well before handling lenses. And, to clean contact lens cases with solution rather than water to avoid contaminating the lenses with germs found in water. For those who are actively involved in swimming or other water sports, prescription goggles may be a good option. Or possibly even a different form of vision correction, such as laser eye surgery.

Throw Away or Disinfect Contact Lenses that Touch Water

If water touches contact lenses for any reason, take them out as soon as possible. Throw them away, or clean and disinfect them overnight before wearing them again. This may help to reduce the risk of infection. The safest option is to keep contact lenses away from all water.

Make Others Aware During Contact Lens Health Week

Contact Lens Health Week is a week to remind others to use their contact lenses appropriately, and to care for them correctly. The week is a time to reevaluate your use of contact lenses and make adjustments in your routine, if necessary.