Contact lenses are practical - and with helpful tips, handling them is more comfortable than expected. With lenses, you would not look a bit different if you go for transparent ones. If you want to experiment, you can even choose the option of colored lenses. No one will know that you do not have bright blue eyes naturally. An optometrist can explain what to look out for when wearing contact lenses and how to learn how to use them.

What you need to know before buying lenses

There are many reasons for contact lenses: you get the familiar exterior and a larger field of vision, they do not sit on your nose and do not fog up when you exercise. The following points help deal with the small, almost invisible plastic lenses.

What are contact lenses?

In principle, every person can wear contact lenses, regardless of their age. There are lenses for myopia and farsightedness, astigmatism and presbyopia. Even if your eyes are prone to dryness, you can quickly wear contact lenses. Here it is particularly important to choose the right contact lens type and modern care. Be sure to wear safety goggles or only use daily lenses when doing activities in a dusty environment or swimming in chlorinated, dirty, or salty water. Moreover, if your eyesight gets weak wearing contact lenses continuously enables them to stablise and not weakening any further.

Attention, the values ​​for glasses and lenses are different!

Do you already wear glasses and now want to switch to lenses? Then you need to know that your glasses values cannot be used to buy green contacts. This is due to the different distance from the eye in both types of visual aids. While the glasses have a certain distance - usually around 13.5 mm - from the eye, the contact lens sits directly on the eye. This results in different diopter values, and This can be illustrated by comparing the visual aid with a magnifying glass. You can only see well with the magnifying glass at a certain distance. If you hold the magnifying glass too close to the eye, you can see out of focus. Also, additional values ​​are required for the production of contact lenses. Your eye is measured, and the tear film is examined to select the radius, diameter and suitable contact lens type. So if you want to switch to contact lenses, measurement and adjustment by a contact lens specialist are mandatory.

To make sure that lenses are the right visual aid for you, you should get advice from a contact lens specialist and make a trial appointment. Here the handling of the lenses is explained to you in detail, your contact lens values ​​are measured correctly, and you receive individual advice and adjustment.

Hard or soft contact lenses

Soft and hard lenses are available on the market. Soft lenses should be replaced at regular intervals. They lie directly on the cornea and are hardly noticeable. If you only want to wear lenses occasionally, you can also choose daily or weekly lenses.

Hard lenses guarantee an ideal supply of oxygen, last for several years and correct even complicated visual defects. However, the firmer material of the dimensionally stable lens can be a nuisance for beginners.

With hard lenses, the familiarization phase lasts up to a month, as long as a foreign body feeling is usually perceived, which gradually becomes weaker. Due to the high price, hard lenses are only worthwhile for regular wear. Fitting a hard lens is more complicated. Poorly adjusted hard lenses can permanently damage the cornea. Which lenses are suitable for you depends on how often you want to wear the lenses and how sensitive your eyes are - if the decision is difficult for you, your optician will advise you on the adjustment.

Nothing beats hygiene

Contact lenses that are used for longer than a day require care. Lenses wear with time and get dust, grease and other dirt on them. These deposits have to be removed at the end of the day so that they do not provide a breeding ground for bacteria. The contact lenses must be cleaned with a suitable care product and disposed of according to their useful life. You can find lenses and a large selection of care products. If you do not want to get anything fancy, then opt for daily lenses.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR CONTACT LENSES: INSERT AND REMOVE

Now you know everything you need to know before buying lenses. Now it is time for tips on how to use and remove contact lenses more quickly in everyday life.

1. Before each insertion or removal: wash your hands thoroughly

2. Remove the contact lens from the packaging or container and touch the lens as little as possible

3. Put the lens on the tip of your index finger

4. With your free hand, pull the lower eyelid slightly down

5. Look up and bring the contact lens up to the eye

6. The lens attaches itself to the eye by itself

7. If you close the eye, the lens can be placed better

8. When removing, pull the lower lid down with the middle finger of the hand on the side of the corresponding eye

9. With the middle finger of the other hand, pull the upper lid up

10. Look at the ceiling and pull the lens down with your index finger

11. Use your thumb and forefinger to push the lens together, after that it can be removed

12. If you have done this a few times, inserting and removing your lens will soon become routine

Daily, weekly, monthly and yearly lenses

Depending on how long the contact lenses are worn, a distinction is made between daily, weekly, monthly and yearly lenses. Daily lenses are only worn for a few hours after a day at the latest you take them out of your eyes and dispose of them. Weekly or monthly lenses have to be replaced after one to two weeks or a month, annual lenses even after one year. Most contact lenses are only worn during the day, and only special extended wearing lenses can also be worn overnight.

Conclusion

Million glasses wearers ask themselves this question. There are many arguments for wearing contact lenses: In contrast to glasses, contact lenses are invisible, which means that they do not change the appearance of the wearer. With glasses, the eyes appear - depending on myopia or farsightedness - smaller or larger than they are. Nearsighted people see everything small with glasses, so an object looks smaller than it is.<