Replacing Contact Lenses: How Often Should I Replace My Contact Lenses?

If you are a contact lens wearer, you may be wondering how often you should replace your contact lenses. Through this article, you will be provided with some basic guidelines to use when trying to decide if the time is right to change or replace your contact lenses.
Keep in mind that if you do have any specific questions about your contact lenses and wearing contact lenses -- including the replacement of your contact lenses -- you would be very well served to contact your eye doctor. Your eye doctor can provide you with authoratative information about your vision, about eye care and about your contact lenses.

Disposable Contact Lenses

Disposable contact lenses fist came on the market in the late 1980’s. Disposable contacts are to be worn and then thrown away after a specified period of time. Not only are disposable contact lenses the easiest and healthiest type of contacts available but are preferred with consumers and eye care specialists.

Understanding Your Specific Type of Contact Lenses

To understand how often your contacts should be replaced, you need to understand what type of contacts that are available and how long each are to be worn before they are to thrown away.

When to Replace Disposable Contact Lenses

Disposable lenses are to be worn for only one day or some for up to two weeks, whereas frequent replacement lenses can be worn for up to a month or even three months before they need to be disposed of. Traditional lenses, also known as reusable lenses are to be replaced approximately every six months or sometimes longer, depending on how often you wear them.

Keep in Mind Manufacturer's Recommendations

The reason that manufacturers recommend a certain replacement time for various contact lenses is based on how long they can be worn without getting a buildup of protein, calcium and lipid deposits. Although you will clean your contacts, if they are not daily disposables, in which case they are thrown away daily, all contacts will eventually get deposits that can not be removed and that build up on the lenses. These deposits make your contacts less comfortable than when they were new and can make your eyes more prone to infections.

Replacement to Avoid Infections

Before disposable lenses, frequent replacement was still advised to keep the wearer from getting eye infections and irritation. But many people did not replace them when they should have because the cost was prohibitive; therefore more people had problems with eye infections than they do now with the newly designed daily and short term wear contacts.

Cleaning and Caring for Your Contact Lenses

In the past, contacts were worn for much longer before they were discarded and more emphasis was placed on various cleaning solutions and devices that prolonged the use of the lenses. But today, disposable lenses require less maintenance and are simply thrown away.

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