If your child wears contact lenses, he may be at risk for serious eye infections, especially if they are kept in the eyes too long between cleanings. Contact lenses are at the top of the list of all medical devices that cause injury and send kids to the emergency room, according to a study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics. Of the 70,000 emergency-room visits over a two-year period caused by medical-device injuries, 23 percent of those (33,779 cases) were from contact lenses, according to researchers for the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. The majority of the cases were reported in adolescents ages 11 to 21, and injuries included contusions/abrasions, conjunctivitis, and hemorrhage.
It’s hard enough for adult contact lens wearers to adhere to all the advice from an optometrist on proper contact lens care, so imagine how tough it might be for your child to remember all the dos and don’ts. That’s reason enough to supervise your child’s use of contact lenses. The FDA has the following safety tips to share with your child:
• Wash your hands before touching eyes and handling contact lenses.• Rub and rinse your contact lenses as directed by your eye-care professional.
• Clean and disinfect your lenses properly according to the labeling instructions.
• Do not "top-off" the solutions in your case. Always discard all of the leftover contact lens solution after each use. Never reuse any lens solution.
• Clean, rinse, and air-dry your lens case each time lenses are removed.
• Do not expose your contact lenses to any water: tap, bottled, distilled, lake, or ocean water. Never use nonsterile water (distilled water, tap water or any homemade saline solution). Tap and distilled water have been associated with Acanthamoeba keratitis, a corneal infection that is resistant to treatment and cure.
• Remove your contact lenses before swimming. There is a risk of eye infection from bacteria in swimming pool water, hot tubs, lakes, and the ocean.
• Replace your contact lens storage case every 3 to 6 months.
If your child experiences eye discomfort, unusual redness, burning, or any other symptom of irritation or infection:
- Remove your lenses immediately and do not put them back in your eyes.
- Contact your eye-care professional right way.
- Don't throw away your lenses. Store them in your case and take them to your eye-care professional. He or she may want to use them to determine the cause of your symptoms.
- Report serious eye problems associated with your lenses to the FDA’s MedWatch reporting program.
—Ginger Skinner, Web associate editor
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