All who wear contact lenses have forgotten once or twice in their lives to take their contacts out before going to sleep. However, we can also find people who do this regularly. According to experts, that can be extremely dangerous because such habits can easily initiate eye inflammation processes and lead to blindness.
That’s because our eyes have a natural protection against the foreign bodies – a thin liquid layer of protective enzymes. Sometimes the germs and bacteria manage to penetrate through this protective layer and reach the cornea. These infections tend to attack people after visiting hot and humid climate countries where people unnoticeably use dirty water filled with infections.
In Britain, 50 people suffer from infections caused by Acanthamoebabacteria every year. It should be kept in mind that few years ago we didn’t hear about these bacteria anything at all. Experts point out that British are more vulnerable than the continental Europeans, because water in United Kingdom is generally kept in water tanks, where bacteria can multiply more easily than in flowing water.
Microbiologists claim that bacteria causing inflammation in eyes can be found practically everywhere, but most of them like to be in bathrooms. Holding your lens in containers filled with such water can lead you to trouble. In addition, you should also pay attention to the terms and avoid wearing your lenses longer than they should be used because tiny cracks that appear on the lenses are the ideal for spreading of bacteria. However, the most common mistake which leads to eye infection is inappropriate hand hygiene – keep in mind that you must clean your hands thoroughly before taking out your lenses.