Perth Contact
Lenses
Experience You Can Trust
With nearly forty years experience in contact lens fitting Cooper and Lourie Family Optometrists can fit and advise on all types of Contact lenses. We use cutting edge technology such as computerised corneal topography for accurate lens fitting. As an independent practice we are free to prescribe lenses from all contact lens manufacturers to provide the best possible results for fit, vision and eye health.
We specialise in:
- Daily disposable lenses for those who wear lenses infrequently.
- Disposable fortnightly and monthly modalities.
- 30 Day extended wear disposable lenses that can be left in the eye for a month without removal.
- Specialty Soft and Rigid Gas Permeable (RGP) lenses for more difficult eyes.
- Revolutionary Ortho-Keratology (Ortho-K) Contact lenses which are worn over night to correct your vision so that when they are removed in the morning you have great vision during the day without spectacles or contacts. (See our ‘Eye Tests’ tab on the home page for more information)
Contact Lens Care
Although you may have been wearing contact lenses for some time, and you feel confident that you are doing everything according to the book, it might be worth your while to briefly refresh your knowledge about how, why and what solutions should be used to keep your lenses in tip-top shape, and to make certain your eyes stay healthy.
Hand Washing
Of course it is important to wash your hands with an anti-bacterial soap, rinse them thoroughly and dry them with a clean lint free towel before handling your lenses. Hand washing is essential before inserting or removing any contact lens.
Daily Disposable Lenses
If you wear daily disposable contact lenses, you don’t need to worry about cleaning and disinfecting them as they are worn once and then discarded. Sometimes, you might need to rinse them, though, and you should always use saline, never fresh water (even if it has been boiled). Make certain that you use a preserved saline (such as Lens Plus Ocupure Saline), or an aerosol saline.
Disposable and Specialty Soft and Rigid Gas Permeable (RGP) Lenses
If you use a fortnightly or monthly disposable contact lens, or a conventional daily-wear lens, then you will be using either a multi-purpose solution, or one of the systems based on hydrogen peroxide (eg: AOSept Plus).
- Multipurpose solutions – (such as Renu and Optifree) are so-called because you need only the one bottle of solution to carry out the different steps of cleaning, soaking, rinsing and disinfecting.After removing your contact lens, you should place it in the palm of your hand, squirt a little of the multi-purpose solution onto it and, using a finger, rub the lens in the solution for about 10 seconds. This cleans off the deposits that have built up on the contact lens surface during the wearing period, and the rinse you should follow with allows the lens to be relatively clean prior to soaking.Most multipurpose solutions require that you soak the contact lenses for at least four hours (preferably overnight); this gives adequate time for all the germs to be killed, and the lenses to be disinfected. In the morning, you can just place the contact lenses straight into your eyes, although some people prefer to give a quick squirt of solution beforehand.
- Daily Cleaner – In some cases, you may be advised to use a separate daily cleaner (such as Bausch and Lomb daily cleaner), and you would normally use three drops, cleaning each side for a minimum of 10 seconds once again.
- Protein Remover – For patients who Specialty soft and RGP contact lenses which may be re-used for a year or more, you may need to use a protein remover. (usually weekly or fortnightly) These are enzymatic cleaners the ‘gobble up’ the protein that accumulates on the contact lens surface.
Re-wetting Drops
If you experience any ‘dryness’ during contact lens wear, this may be related to the surface of the contact lens becoming dehydrated, particularly in air-conditioned environments, and with intensive computer usage. Ask your optometrist whether a rewetting eyedrop, used whilst the contact lenses are in place, is suitable for you. These come in two forms – unit-dose vials, which are preservative-free, and multi-dose bottles, if you need to use it more frequently.
However you clean and disinfect your contact lenses, if you think you may not be carrying out the procedure properly, or have forgotten, do ask your optometrist at Cooper and Lourie. They’ll be happy to answer any questions on the telephone, or you can get in touch via this website; there is no substitute for good advice from an expert on the subject.