The first thought that comes to people's minds once they hear of contact lenses is the thrill of having a different eye colour than your own. 'Maybe I can get blue 'eyes' so that I can relate to Westlife's songs of the girl with the blue eyes? Maybe brown or hazel, so that ladies may be on my case and i'd lie to them that my brown eyes are all natural? Yes?! No? What about grey?'
It is always about the beauty of the eyes. Before you start to use contact lenses, it is essential for you to do some groundwork on them. Only after doing some basic study should you purchase contacts, so as to avoid 'going with the flow'. These are just but a few guidelines that you need to follow if you intend to use contact lenses;
1. Visit an Optometrist:
First and most importantly, is the fact that you have to visit an optometrist for them to guide you on your contact lenses journey. You need to know if you are ready for daily contact lens wear or just for cosmetic purposes.
The optometrist will help you understand the pros and cons that come with wearing contact lenses, and lead you to make a better decision. If you have any queries, ask them as you will get no better answers anywhere than from them.
2. Do not order contact lenses online using the same prescription as your glasses:
Many people think it is okay to use the prescription they get for their glasses to order contact lenses. You need to understand the sizes of contacts and glasses are different. Pay a visit to the qualified optometrists at Optica to get the right prescription.
If you use the prescription of your glasses to order contacts, it is highly likely that you will face complications with your eyes or vision.
3. Understand the different types of contact lenses:
Depending on your lifestyle and personal preference, the optometrist will advise you accordingly to suit it. There are different types of contact lenses;
- Daily disposable lenses: After wearing them for a day, you can and should dispose of them.
- 14/30 day lenses: Lenses which you can wear for two weeks or 30 days, of which, at the end of each and every day, you will be using a contact lens solution to clean them, so that they are ready for wear the next day.
- Rigid gas permeable lenses: These contact lenses are physically harder and last longer for one or two years.
- Coloured lenses: These are lenses that can be purchased without a power, for aesthetic purposes, or can be purchased with a power and are similar to the 30 day lenses in terms of usage.
4. No sleep, no shower and no swim with contact lenses
Once you get comfortable with wearing your contact lenses, you will most likely carry them with you everywhere you go and it's common to get lazy when it comes to removing them. Just keep in mind that you should not sleep with them, you should not shower with them nor should you swim with them as it may lead to your eyes getting infected.
5. Contact lenses will never roll to the back of your eyes
New wearers of contact lenses or those who intend to purchase contact lenses tend to be afraid of the contact lenses rolling to the back of their eyes. But this is not possible! Don't you worry!
PS: Evance, our Inventory Control Officer, once said, IF YOU CAN'T SEE, THEN SEE US!
