Follow the wearing schedule given by your optometrist.

Wash and rinse your hands before insertion and removal of lenses.

Always use fresh solution.

Replace faulty, damaged or dried out lenses.

Replace your lens case at least every 3 months.

Handle daily disposable lenses as little as possible.

Rub and rinse monthly disposable lenses before insertion.

Sleep with your lenses in unless this has been prescribed.

Re-use solutions.

Use tap water on your lenses.

Wear lenses while swimming.

Ignore eye irritations.

Your eyes become red and/or irritable.

You have reduced vision in one or both of your eyes.

You have any queries regarding your lenses.

SOFT LENS SOLUTIONS
Disinfecting storage solutions are essentially divided into three categories:

Multi-purpose or all-in-one solutions that contain preservative (usually polyhexanide) - examples include Focus Aqua, Optifree Express, Renu Moistureloc and Complete

Traditional preservative-free Hydrogen Peroxides - Aosept, Easysept, 10:10 and Oxysept.

Preservative-free Multipurpose solution REGARD - this is a unique solution as it is the first of its kind to be both preservative-free and multipurpose offering the convenience of an all-in-one whilst retaining the benefits of NO preservative.

Rinsing solution should always be 0.9% saline - one should NEVER use tap water to rinse contact lenses!)

CONTACT LENS SURFACE AND PROTEIN CLEANERS

Surfactant cleaners include LC-65 and Miraflow - these are rubbed onto the lens surfaces to remove daily grime and tear deposits.

Protein removing tablets include Ultrazyme, Unizyme, Fizzitab and Opticlean - these get rid of the more stubborn protein deposits

Most disposable lens wearers don't need either of these cleaners, but in some individuals they are still required

Daily disposables never need cleaning, but all other contact lenses do. The less the disposability of the lens system, the more the cleaning required. Cleaning can involve anything from one to four steps.

Soft contact lens one-step-systems require only one solution type whereas the others use more than one. Examples of one-step-systems include REGARD, Focus Aqua, Optifree Express, Renu Moistureloc and Complete. Simply remove the lenses from the eyes, rub and rinse with the solution, pop into the case and fill up with the same solution. A new generation has entered the market in the form of 'no rub no rinse' solutions. Some UK optometrists still prefer to encourage rubbing of the contact lenses as bugs like Acanthamoeba in cystic form are better removed from the lens surface with the rubbing action.

If you have sensitive eyes or suffer badly with hayfever, excema or asthma, your lenses are best cleaned with a preservative free system or the REGARD multipurpose system. The preservative-free systems may be better for you, as preservative has been linked to causing and exacerbating sensitivity in certain individuals. Better still to consider daily disposables instead.

Patients on fortnightly or monthly lenses need only use a disinfectant solution as per the above. Those wearing annual soft lenses still need to clean their lenses with a surfactant cleaner daily and perform weekly protein-removal.