Taking care of contacts

Q. My teenager just got contact lenses. What are the most important things she needs to know about taking care of them?

A. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, infections related to improperly handled contact lenses can mean serious complications, including vision loss. But such problems frequently can be prevented if you take care.

A recent report from the agency contained these top tips for contact lens wearers:

Don't sleep in contact lenses unless your eye doctor has given you permission to do so and explained how often you need to remove your lenses. Sleeping in contact lenses increases the chance of an eye infection by six to eight times.

Don't add new contact lens solution to old solution that has been sitting in the case. Doing so decreases the solution's germ-killing power.

Replace your contact lenses as often as recommended by your eye doctor. Trying to eke out more use than you should is linked with higher complications and more eye problems than experienced by those who follow replacement recommendations.

- Staff report