Once you have been fitted with the proper contact lenses, much of your success wearing them will depend on you. How you care for and use your lenses can mean the difference between a positive experience and one that leaves you with burning, painful eyes.

Proper hygiene is an important first step. Wash your hands before you handle your lenses.

If you wear eye make-up, put your contacts in before you apply eye make-up and remove them before removing eye make-up. Use cosmetics sparingly and use hypoallergenic and non-flake varities. Discard eye make-up three months after opening. Don’t use eye make-up if your eyes are irritated or red.

If you use hair spray, use it before you put in your contacts.

Clean and disinfect your lenses after each wearing.

Follow instructions for lens care and use only the solutions recommended by your eye doctor.

Keep your contact lens case clean.

Don’t use saliva to wet your lenses.

Don’t sleep with your contacts in place unless approved by your eye doctor.

If your eyes become red, irritated, and painful, remove your contact lenses and consult with your eye doctor as soon as possible.

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The Contact Lens Clinic, located in the Pomerantz Family Pavilion at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, has the right contact lens for you because it carries the largest selection of contact lenses in the area and provide both primary and specialty care. What type of lens will work for you? Call 319-356-2852 for an appointment.

Colored lenses—Today, colored lenses are more natural looking and come in a wider array of colors. They also are available for people with astigmatism.

Bifocal lenses—You can choose between lenses with two powers in each lens or choose monovision, one prescription in one eye, one prescription in the other eye. .

Disposable lenses—Most commonly replaced on a daily to two-week schedule, depending on the brand and the doctor’s recommendation.

Soft lenses—These are made of a gel-like plastic with varying amounts of water in them.

Gas Rigid Permeable (GRP) lenses—These lenses are made of breathable plastic and are custom-fit to the shape of the cornea.

Toric lenses for astigmatism—When the eye is shaped like a football; it has two different powers. Toric lenses correct both powers at the same time.

Special effect lenses—Besides correcting your vision, these lenses can change how your eye looks. You also can get them without vision correction. These lenses can be custom made with a patient’s own design or a stock lens.

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More than 34 million people in the United States wear contact lenses. Each year that number increases, because contacts offer excellent vision correction to fit nearly every eye and many people think they see, and look, better in contact lenses.

The Contact Lens Clinic at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics offers primary as well as specialty care. The clinic offers every brand of contact lens available. "We offer the latest in lens technology," says Christine Sindt, O.D., director, UI Contact Lens Clinic.

"We work to be on the cutting edge of the contact lens field. In fact, we offer many lenses before they are available nationwide. We enjoy being a clinical test site and it benefits our patients. We have more than 10,000 diagnostic lenses and more arrive every month."

But for some, wearing contact lenses is a medical necessity.

Sindt says the youngest person fitted at the clinic was a baby only eight days old; the oldest first-time user was a 94-year-old woman. In both cases, she said, the lenses were medically necessary.

"People who have medical needs find us because they’ve tried everywhere else," she says. "Many adults we see in the clinic, 40 to 50 percent, have medical reasons for coming to the clinic, including eye injuries, corneal transplants, keratoconus, scars, missing lens, etc.

"What may be complicated for other eye clinics, is routine for us," Sindt says. More information UI Contact Lens Clinic

Listed above are several Web sites that offer additional information on this topic. University of Iowa Health Care does not sponsor or endorse these sites, or guarantee the accuracy of the information contained on these sites. These links are here for general information only, and should not be used for personal diagnosis or treatment. If you have any questions, please contact UI Health Access.

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