Specifically, you can find the expiration date of your pair of lenses on the foil cover of your container. You can also find other information about your lenses here, including:. This might just save you future complications like eye infections or other eye health issues. Wearing expired contacts can present several undesired ocular health outcomes. Once the expiration date elapses, the solution that preserves the lenses will more likely be infiltrated with fungal, bacterial, and amoebae pathogens.
These pathogens can increase the risk of infections, discomfort, and potential permanent blindness. The best solution to take when you realize that your contacts have expired is to seek medical attention immediately from your eye doctor. When you realize that your contact lens solution has expired, you should not wear them. Instead, you can seek medical advice from your eye care doctor on the next step forward. Your doctor will likely suggest that you get new contacts that have not expired yet and are safe to use.
Even if you maintain proper contact lens hygiene, they are still meant to be replaced after some time, as indicated by their manufacturers. Taking care of your lenses does not necessarily mean that they will be safe to wear. The American Academy of Ophthalmology AOA recommends sticking to the following steps in order to avoid contact lens infections:.
Estimated Burden of Keratitis. November Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In this preliminary study, the researchers did find some contamination in expired lens packs, but they were unable to make any broad claims due to a very small sample size their stated goal was more to spark further study than to answer the question authoritatively. The Huffington Post posed the question of expired lens safety to eye doctors representing the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Optometric Association.
The doctors confirmed that you should definitely not use expired lenses. The solution containing the lenses can go bad, they explained-specifically, it can become more acidic or more alkaline basic.
With an unstable pH acidity , "the lens, when the solution expires, can cause infection and become very uncomfortable. If a contact lens has survived the long shelf life before its marked expiration date, it has probably received some abuse-perhaps from being left in the bottom of a bag or crammed into a car glovebox.
This means that there is a good chance that the packaging has been compromised, allowing contamination to enter. Bacteria, fungi, and amoebae can cause serious eye infections that can lead to blindness.
Vision Center is funded by our readers. We may earn commissions if you purchase something via one of our links. Soft contact lenses have an expiration date. Most soft contact lenses usually expire around four years from the date they were packaged.
Your state usually sets the expiration date for your contact lenses prescription. This may require renewal between one to four years.
If your state has not indicated a prescription expiration date, it will expire in one year. This rule is set by federal regulation. For all your contact needs. It's simple to order online. To check the expiration date of your contact lenses, refer to the packaging they come in. By checking the expiration date, you can avoid any issues or complications with wearing expired contacts. There are different types of contact lenses that fix different vision problems:.
Soft contact lenses are produced from silicone hydrogels. These materials allow oxygen to reach the cornea. Soft contact lenses are easy to adjust to and comfortable. Daily contact lenses are disposable. They are worn for one day then disposed of. They are becoming very popular because they are more convenient and cleaner than other types of contacts.
Monthly contact lenses are also disposable. However, each pair lasts a full month. Every day they are removed and placed into a contact lens solution. Extended wear contact lenses are used for overnight or continuous wear.
Your prescription can expire on any type of contact lens. However, the expiration date set by a manufacturer usually only applies to soft lenses.
That's because they're shipped in a solution that's meant to keep them hydrated until you wear them. If you wear gas permeable lenses also known as hard contact lenses , you don't have to worry as much. These are dry when they're shipped from the manufacturer to the doctor's office. So there's no solution for potential contamination.
People with gas permeable lenses don't have to worry about expiration dates. But the majority of contact lens wearers use soft lenses, so this is a valid issue.
Let's say you're on your last set of contacts, but the expiration date was two months ago. You're really tempted to just shrug it off and wear them. Can you do that? What happens then? There's no way to tell from looking at the solution if it's compromised. You won't know if the solution is more acidic than it should be.
0コメント