Do you wear contact lenses – are you truly revolting or a strictly hygiene only? Share with Specsavers – you could win £250 NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

The team at Specsavers would love to all about your habits (good or bad) with your contact lenses.

We all know hygiene and eyes is very important – so do you tend to toe the line and follow instructions to the letter? Or are you a bit {ahem} lax in that department? How about when you were younger – or had different lenses? How do you dispose of disposable lenses? Does your DP wear them and leave them lying around when they should be in the bin?

Specsavers say "Here at Specsavers we like to make is easy for contact lens wearers - wearing contact lenses gives you freedom and convenience. And at Specsavers, when you buy contact lenses you get more than just the lenses. Our all-inclusive package not only gives you some fantastic benefits but is also an easy way to pay for your lenses. We'll give you a pair of glasses from our £45 range or designer frames from just £35, full aftercare, future sight tests as recommended by your optician and we'll deliver your lenses and solutions, at no extra cost."

Share your habits – good and bad - and everyone who does will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £250 voucher from here

Please note Specsavers may use your comments - anon of course - on their pages on MN, on their social media or possibly elsewhere - please only post if you're happy with this.

Thanks and good luck
MNHQ

I always use daily disposables, and have for many a year, and I always wash my hands well before I put them, and take them out.

I don't wear contacts but I can't imagine being the kind to clean them so would probably go for daily disposables!

I wear monthly disposable lenses through Specsavers and have done for the last 11 years. However now I am pregnant my eyes have dried out so much I sadly can't wear them. Luckily I got a free pair of glasses with the scheme which everyone says suits me!

I wear gas permeable lenses and Im a bit lax to be honest. The soaking solution isnt changed daily, and I have often put them in my mouth to clean them, and gone far too long between check ups to change them.
That said Ive never (touch wood) had an eye infection and after a 4 year gap the optician was very suprised that they were not scratched to buggery.

I don't wear them. I wish I did. Scared to try though!

I started out being scrupulously clean- washing my hands before putting them in out, always using clean solution to soak them in. Roll on 10 years & I have had so many horrible experiences- forgetting to take them out after drunken nights out, using some very dubious receptacles to store them in (university years) ... cue conjunctivitis, sore gritty eyes. Oh & as for disposing of them- finding them flicked onto bathroom tiles (drunken nights again!). I am reformed now though as am scared of damaging my sight in my old age & am trying to teach dd1 good habits.

I use daily disposables so it's easy to be hygienic with them really. OK, so I don't always wash my hands before taking them in and out... and on occasion I've forgotten to take them out before bed and have woken up with rather crusty eyes!

I'm not a lens wearer but I'm thinking about contacts as I'm fed up with glasses.

I am very strict with myself concerning my lenses

I dont wear contact lenses

I wash and dry hands before I use your hydrogel contacts. I'm very careful as I was a little careless when I was younger and have learnt you only have 1 pair of eyes so it's best to protect them. After having eye surgeries about other things I know to care for them now.

I used to have contact lenses but because of the shape of my eye was told that I could only have monthly ones, so I had to wash them every night, put them in a pot of solution and then put them back in my eyes for a whole month. I listened very carefully to the 'don't use your spit to clean them' talk they gave me in specsavers - horrified that anyone would actually do that.

Because this was something I would never do (The spit cleaning) I once used three months worth (Three pairs) over a very overindulgent (Booze) weekend where I ripped them out and chucked them on the floor of where ever it was I ended up - the stinky toilets of the local pub being one of them. I have very vivid memories of fishing around in my eyes trying to get a pair out only to realise they were no loner there.

I only wear glasses now but am reliably informed that I can now get daily disposables so might give them a try.

I have daily disposables, always wash hands well before putting in or taking out, I'm a rule-follower in general and not keen on the idea of eye infections or blindness!

Once watched a programme about eye infections (most from bad contact lenses hygiene) and it was more than enough to put me off for life. I've been wearing specs for more years than I care to remember but have never really considered contact lenses as an option and don't think I ever will - too much faff really!

I used to be lax with washing my hands and used to get these little tiny cysts along the rim of my eyelids quite a lot. Started being more careful with hand washing and I get them rarely now.

My mum once rinsed her contact lens in her beer.no idea what she was thinking...

I once spent ages when a bit tipsy trying to take my lenses out... I'd actually taken them out 15 minutes earlier and forgot!

I no longer wear contact lenses now, but had been for nearly 8 years. Initially, I was having the ones that can be used for a year, but of course with the proper maintenance. I still remember those initial days when I was lazy to remove them and just slept with the lenses intact, just to wake up in the morning with dry eyes and lenses. Though I wasn't aware of the risks on those initial days, It gradually showed up and proved how dangerous it is to carry on with poorly maintained contact lenses. My eyesight got worse and I had other problems and had to move back to glasses. It is better to go for daily disposables if you think you won't maintain them properly. It saves your time and eye sight!

I have worn both hard contact lenses and soft ones after wearing glasses. I loved the freedom of contact lenses but it got a pain to keep getting them cleaned when I had my son as any residue creams would make them smeary. I've retried a few years ago but sadly my eyes are very dry, as I also take anti-histimines for allergies and they did advise me not to wear them sadly. When I did wear them I prefered the soft lenses as they were more comfortable, but more prone to drying out. I used to keep them in a separate vial container and always carry sterilising solution around with me in a tiny bottle so i didn't have to wash my hands if there wasn't a sink available. If you dropped a soft lens, it was always a pain to find, unlike a hard lens. I think hygiene for the eyes is paramount because of blindness. I don't think I would like the modern leave-in-the-eye for a month ones as that seems dangerous and the eye can't breathe. But if I could I'd certainly opt for soft dailies if I could wear them, they are the best.

I am hugely short sighted and have been wearing Rigid Gas Permeable lenses for 30 years now (changed yearly!). When I was much younger I used to rinse them with tap water (I even stored them overnight in water occasionally if not returning home after a night out...). In my partying days I slept in them more than once (that horrible feeling when you are waking up and your eyes feel like sandpaper). Once had to retrieve one from the U-bend in the bathroom basin - no other option than to give it a good clean and put it back in!

I am now much better at lens hygiene - wash my hands before taking them out/putting them in, always use a cleaner, rinse with saline solution, then store in all-in-one solution. Rinse with saline solution in the morning, then with all-in-one solution before putting them in, then rinse out lens case with saline solution. Occasionally use protein remover tablets, but not as often as I should... Never sleep in them, try and take them out in the evening to give my eyes a rest. However, I'm sometimes still known to deal with the 'I've got something in my eye' problem, but taking out the lens, putting it in my mouth and then putting it back in my eye again. Am heartened to see from this thread that it is not just me that does this gross thing.

On more than one occasion I have put them both in the same eye. That leads to much confusion as I know that I have put both lenses in, but can't actually see out of either eye!

I swim with them in - my eyesight is so bad that if I got prescription goggles then I would have to wear them all the time - even when standing in the shallow end supervising young kids, which I can't bring myself to do. I guess it's not so much of a risk now I only swim occasionally, but was probably a bad idea to wear them when I was working as a lifeguard....

Didn't realise until very recently that you are not meant to shower with lenses in, due to the risk of bugs in water. That will be a massive change to get used to showering without being able to see!

I purchase contact lenss for our son on line as its so much cheaper that getting them from the shop
He is able to put them on in the car or just stood up without looking in any mirror he always wipes his hands with a hand wash as he again finds just after washing it's sometimes hard to put them in only problem if he comes in late and forgets to take them out he wakes up with sore red eyes so all I can say is to all try and take them out

I wear monthly disposables and I am very lax. I don't wash my hands beforehand (towel fluff problem as discussed), wear them for over a month if I can get away with it, sometimes wear them in the shower and wear them every single day.

I do sometimes wear them overnight, but only in emergencies - i.e staying out overnight without planning too or if I am very very tipsy (which doesn't happen that often - honest!) but generally I take them out and soak them in fresh solution as you are supposed to.

I probably don't change my case as often as I should either...

Gosh - I feel bad now I've written it all down but I have never had an infection or a problem at the opticians.

im very good with lense hygiene but when i'm in a hurry sometimes forget to wash my hands before use !xx

I wear Monthly disposables. However, I only really wear them for special occasions and for Jogging. I should probably get dailies but heyho!

I would say I'm pretty standard with contact lens hygiene. Make sure my hand are washed, clean the lenses with solution and change the solution in the pot for each use...

I am exciting. I know.

Thanks for all the comments
Am pleased to say LulaPalooza wins the £250 voucher.

I wear daily disposables now a find they always feel fresh and are ultimately convenient. When I first sttarted wearing lenses in the 90s they weren't as common so I used to wear monthly disposables. Occasionally I would leave my 'eyes' in water overnight as I'd forgotton my cleaning solution.

Also fairly gross, I once drank so much Malibu and lemonade that I vomited so forcefully My contact lenses popped out! I didn't fish them out and put them back in though, I'm not that gross

I've been wearing mine since I was 15, which I'm now horrified to realise is 25 years.

I only discovered last year that you're not supposed to shower, wash your face or swim with lenses in. Which means I'm rather lucky not to have had any problems, as I've done all these things several times daily.

I'm trying to be good now, but with -9 eyesight I find it bloody inconvenient to shower without them so just try to keep water out of my eyes these days