Cheap and discounted contact lenses - they're probably one of the most mistreated items we own, yet they're vital to healthy eyes. But with a few simple care tips we can really turn things around. With so many discount contact lens suppliers it's not even a major financial issue any more. Would you believe a recent survey discovered that lots of people clean their contact lens by licking or sucking them clean. Many people wear them for several days at a time without removing them; we sleep in them, swim in them and lean them with tap water (which has high levels of bacteria).



Believe it or not, people have been known to devote more care and attention to a pair of shoes than they do to their contact lenses. Contacts have become so popular, and so comfortable, that's it's all too easy to forget that they're actually a medical device - which can, and often does, give rise to some serious complications if they are not treated with care - all it takes is some contact lens cleaner, some contact lens cases and your set.

If you get a bacterial infection in your eyes it can create very serious problems and painful inflammation. I know we all believe tap water is healthy and safe, but that's not quite true. Organisms that live in tap water can grow and build colonies in your eyes, and even resist most drugs. I don't want to be a scaremonger, but in serious cases people have gone blind or needed to have cornea transplants. Over the past 24 months there have been increased incidences of infections of a protozoan known as Acanthamoeba.

Rocco, 20, (of Algonquin) only wore his contacts a few months before he began waking up to throbbing pain in his left eye, which had turned red. Rocco, who had just returned home from his freshman year at Eastern Illinois University, went to a family doctor expecting a diagnosis of pink eye. It was Acanthamoeba.

The doctors tried various drugs and medications, but after 6 months of nothing working he was sent for a cornea transplant as the only way to save his sight in that eye. The Acanthamoeba had colonized his eye, and caused scar tissue which was now blurring his vision.

Now Rocco is facing a second transplant in his other eye. "I'd hate to see this happen to anyone else," Rocco said. "Tell the people to keep those things clean." All it takes is an effective contact lens cleaner and some contact lens cases and you're set.

Having said all that, outbreaks of Acanthamoeba are still relatively rare. Statistics show that there are only about one or two reported cases of it in every one million contact lens wearers. The more common problem is bacterial infections, which affect approximately 1 in every 2500 wearers each year.

The problem is that contact lenses counteract the eyes natural defense mechanisms. When you blink your eyes, your eyelid spreads tears from your tear ducts all over the epithelium (medical term for the top layer of your eye). This washes away any bacteria and foreign objects and keeps your eyes clean and healthy. When you introduce a contact lens into your eye, the natural defense process no longer works as the eyelid is no longer in direct contact with your eye. So your contact lenses have to be perfectly clean to ensure healthy eyes.