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 wear monthly ones and would like to think I'm pretty strict as far as hygiene goes.

I always wash my hands before removing them and putting them in. I always rub them with the solution after removing them and try to stick to the 1 month use (change them at the beginning of the month to make it easier to remember).

How do you enter?

I've worn daily disposables for about 6 or 7 years but recently switched to monthlies to save money (though still use dailies sometimes e.g. on holiday). I'm really careful about cleaning them properly but it still feels a bit grim to reuse them.

When I was exclusively using dailies it caused a lot of arguments in our house! I had a bad habit of taking them out in bed and leaving them on the bedside table which they glued themselves to overnight so they had to be routinely chiseled off. Dh called it my 'contact lens graveyard'. I'm disgusting .

Have been wearing soft lenses for 26years. Before disposables I was shocking at cleaning properly, as a teenager I couldn't afford all the solutions so protein remover was rarely done - ended up with abrasions on my eyes when I finally had a check done (put off as couldnt afford one) so had to stop wearing them for a year!
Then moved to weekly disposables but often wore them for 7 days without the day off...
Finally use dailies now - think they are best for me. Wash hands to put in but not remove and do have the awful habit of leaving them on my bedside table. My cat seems to enjoy playing with them once crispy!!
I'm pleased that checks are included in the cost!

Monthlies wearer here. I've been wearing them since I was 15 so 14 years. I'm really careful about hygiene and always wash my hands before and after.

Have been known to go over the month though. Only down side is if I drop one in the sink- can be a pain to find especially if you've no glasses to hand!

I've been wearing contact lenses for 20-odd years.

I used to use three-monthly ones that you had to disinfect then neutralise. If you forgot the latter stage the pain was unreal!

I now use monthly disposables and am fairly good about hygiene. I change them on the first of the month or thereabouts and wash my hands etc. I seem to be quite susceptible to eye infections when run down so I am careful. I don't have any problems with dirt/discomfort so I must be doing a reasonable job!

I have come under so much pressure from Specsavers to change to daillies and I really wish they'd stop. I had a trial, and in the 20-odd years I've been wearing them, have never had so much discomfort. I really object to staff there telling me that it's not possible, too. My eyes would start to stream every hour or so and I looked a mess.

DH uses daillies and leaves them to dry on the side of the sink

Just switched from fortnightlies to dailies and am looking forward to not having to faff about with cleaning them! Although I am pretty good (although sometimes taking them out, leaving them to soak overnight, then cleaning them in the morning rather than immediately I take them out in the evening - not entirely sure whether that is bad or not...?!).

I wear monthly contacts (from Specsavers - been a customer for around 15 years now!) and although I'm not as hygienic as I should be, I've not had any problems.

Following some tellings off though I do try and have one day off per week and wear my glasses. There was a point where the veins in my eye were coming towards my iris....which is apparently not very good..!

The only serious problem I ever had was when I first got contacts - the solution I used at that point was one where you had to put a tablet into the case as well as the liquid. Well, I had taken my lenses out and a boy I fancied came to my door. I had then quickly put my lenses in as I didn't want him to see me with glasses on. BIG MISTAKE - the tablet obviously hadn't dissolved and I had to go to the Eye Hospital to get it all rinsed out of my eye. So embarrassing....

I use monthlies and am generally pretty good hygiene wise, although I do sometimes just put them in the solution without rubbing them first.

I've also been swimming in my lenses and once fell asleep - never again, I thought they'd never come out!

I wear fortnightly ones and I have to say I tend just to take them out and put them in solution... I have just had a shower when I put them in so assume that my hands are clean.

And I forget to change them fortnightly

@MyGastIsTinselled

How do you enter?

just post your comment on this thread.

I use daily disposables, so just stick them in in the morning (with clean hands) and bin them in the evening.
Before I lost my tolerance for them I had gas permable lenses. Probably just as well that I can't use them anymore as I would have been bound to pick up a nasty infection with my slovenly habits. I would rarely clean them properly, just bunging them in some solution when I took them out. If they got a bit dry, or if I got something in my eye, I would take them out and stick them in my mouth to wet them for a bit. Ugh!

To all those who use tap water as part of cleaning or storing or rinsing please stop! Tap water shouldn't be used for anything except washing your hands!
I wear ortho k which are an overnight gp lens. I wash my hands before inserting and before taking them out. I clean them before I put them in and just out them in fresh solution in the morning so a bit backwards but ok so far. I love them but will sometimes have a day off and wear my glasses.

I use daily disposables as I only wear them a few times a week. I put them in after a shower because otherwise my eyes feel all gunky from sleep.

I usually take them out when I'm going bed, so my hands will be clean, but DH finds my dried out lenses on the carpet revolting if I miss the bin, which is probably more often than not since I'm practically blind...

I had the sleep in ones, wear for a fortnight type when I first had my baby. I lost track of time and wore them too long and ended up with a terrible eye infection and an Ulcer on my Cornea!

Now I wear Daily disposable and Glasses, probably lenses only a few days of the week as I can't get a good prescription match. I am -7.25 and find vision in lenses is normally much better than glasses.

as a contact lense wearer, I had terrible habits. i started off (aged 14) with monthly ones, and was pretty good. I didn't have glasses as well, wore the lenses every waking moment. I often wore them for more than a month.

After about 10 years, I changed to daily disposable, but still didn't really look after my eyes very well, and ended up with a pretty nasty infection when I was 28/9-ish. I was working from 4am, and wearing the lenses up to 20 hours at a time.

I decided to move back to glasses at about 30- and apart from my wedding, didn't wear lenses again. I look back at my wedding photos and realise it was a mistake, as i didn't really look like me

I had been wearing continuous wear lenses for about 5 years, first got them when DS1 was first born and night feeds etc were a nightmare as I could never find my glasses or they'd fall off on his head whilst trying to BF. The continuous wear meant I could see as soon as I opened my eyes!

Loved them, worked out great, but I was annoyed that I was paying more per month but no longer getting free solutions and cases that I was with my basic monthlys.

I'm now 27 weeks pregnant and had to switch to daily disposables because for some reason pregnancy has changed my eye shape or chemistry and the c/w would irritate almost daily.

I do sometimes forget though due to years of c/wear and wake up with my eyes stuck shut and pulling them out is a scream!

When I do remember to remove them I have to admit I leave them all over the house!

I sometimes wear contact lenses, although not as much these days as I used to, because I struggle with varifocals - I just can't read with them, especially my smartphone.

Do you tend to toe the line and follow instructions to the letter? Or are you a bit {ahem} lax in that department?

I do follow the instruction to the letter - I wash my hands before putting my lenses in, wash them again before taking them out. I have monthly disposables and also clean them well each evening and only use them for one month. I would love daily disposables, but the varifocal ones are just too expensive.

How about when you were younger – or had different lenses? I started wearing semi hard contact lenses about 26 years ago when I was 24. I did clean them as I was told to though and never left them in overnight. They weren't disposables, so I cleaned them every night and soaked them.

How do you dispose of disposable lenses? Does your DP wear them and leave them lying around when they should be in the bin?

I take them out and throw them straight in the bin. Dh has never worn contact lenses.

I used to wear my Contacts constantly but after a very bad and painful allergic reaction to a trial pair I haven't been able to wear them comfortably as before.

I'm pretty to the letter with washing my hands and changing the fluid.

I accidentally wore them in a swimming pool once! (completely forgot I was wearing them till I went to reach for my glasses and realised I could see lol!!) I put the Contacts back in the pot and three days later hey were covered in mould!!!

I've worn contacts since I was 18; as I'm long sighted mine are hard lenses.
I use a cleaning solution and a wetting one; but I don't bother with protein tablets as I don't seem to need them. I haven't needed new lenses for years, and the optician I use are happy that they're still OK

I rarely wear my glasses as I'm pants at choosing frames that look cool.

I put them ain after a shower so my hands are clean, and usually take them out after washing hands too. I know about the nasty bugs that can sit on your lens and eat your eyeball.
I hate dropping them, as mine are about £80 each. haven't lost one for a while now, have to be careful of the 10mth old smacking me in the eye too!

ooh also hate getting dust/ something in my eye whilst wearing lenses. agony is not the word.

Daily disposables. I wear them if I am dressing up a bit, and sometimes if I am going swimming or to the beach. Prob about 1-3 times a week. Always wash my hands before putting them in, but not when taking them out. Usually drive DH mad by leaving them on my bedside table for days after.

I use monthly lenses, but must admit I keep them a little bit longer (to save money as they cost a fortune) I agree about the fluff if you dry your hands first, and also find I have to keep one finger and thumb nail short so I can take my lenses out.

The deep cleaning solution with Peroxide is evil, if you don't keep the case upright, it doesn't neutralise, and you end up burning a layer of your cornea off when you put your lenses back in. After learning this the hard way (several times) I now keep the case stood vertically in the middle of a roll of sellotape.

I use monthly disposables. I change them on first of the month so I am good at changing them regularly.

I put them in the solution every night but I don't stand and rinse them in my hand as I believe you are supposed to do?

I wash my hands before putting them in and out but just shake my hands dry.

I use daily disposables because I do not wear contact lenses every day. I previously had two weekly disposables but had more trouble with them, because I didn't wear them every day so sometimes they would be in their cleaning fluid for three or four days but felt uncomfortable when I did put them in. Otherwise I have varifocal glasses. This is the best for me! I wash my hands very carefully before inserting them and keep the container with its fluid for the day in case I have problems. It's great, and with my lower usage, more economical too!

I use the continuous wear ones and have done for years. I take them out after a month and throw them away. I usually have a week off in between wears.
Hygiene is probably good mainly because I don't have to do much with them. Just wash hands to put them in.

I had monthly disposables before this and my hygiene was somewhat lax. I never used to do that protein clean thing, it took too long. I've rinsed lenses under the tap many times. Licked them clean when I had no solution . Stored them in a glass of water. Slept in them. It's surprising I can still see.

I've only ever bought contact lenses from Specsavers