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Contact Lenses and the Coronavirus (COVID-19)

How Does the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Affect Contact Lens Wearers?

Important advice to all contact lens wearers who worry about contracting the Coronavirus through the use of contact lenses.

Contact lens wearers in Canada are just like any other online buyer. They worry about this crazy and unpredictable Coronavirus, otherwise known as COVID-19 (or in medical circles as SARS-CoV-2). Well, we have some very important tips, updates, and some super important video links as well. See below:

Tip #1

Wash you hands for as long as it takes to sing the Happy Birthday song!

Huh? As it turns out the “Happy Birthday” song sung one time lasts around 21-25 seconds. If you use soap, warm water and sing this song while you wash your hands, you will be making sure that your hands are fully disinfected. And who doesn’t love the “Happy Birthday” song huh?

Tip #2

Contact Lenses are safe to use but…

Generally contact lenses are safe to wear during a crazy time like this but with an important caveat. If you do the RIGHT TYPE OF CLEANING of your lenses, everything should be fine. But if not, you could really mess things up. According to the Centre for Ocular Research & Education, in Waterloo, Ontario:

 

“Contact lenses are a safe, highly effective form of vision correction used by millions of people worldwide, but ignoring good contact lens care can have a devastating effect on eye health and vision,” says CORE senior research associate Miriam Heynen, MSc, who conducted the experiment with laboratory research assistant Vivian Chan, Bsc.

 

What does this mean for you? It means that you need to refer to TIP #1 (wash your hands for over 20 seconds) and use a clean towel to dry your hands to ensure you do NOT increase chances of an ocular infection. But isn’t this true all the time, even when we don’t have this scary Coronavirus? YES YES YES!! What we mean is, it doesn’t matter what is happening in the world. Always wash your hands before putting in and taking out contact lenses. Oh – and ALWAYS WASH YOUR WEEKY OR MONTHLY LENSES PROPERLY with high quality lens care solution. To see our lens care solution products (we only carry the best stuff), click here.

It is also important to remember that daily contact lenses are quite a bit safer than weekly or monthly lenses in this regard. As the Centre for Ocular Research & Education goes on to say:

 

Clean hands plus use of daily disposables results in the lowest risk of contact lens-related complications. For wearers of reusable lenses there are additional guidelines on lens and case cleaning which can be downloaded for patient use from CORE’s Contact Lens Update educational resource.

 

If you are a user of weekly or monthly lenses, please CLICK HERE to download the PDF on proper care of those lenses.

Tip #3

Never wear your contact lenses longer than you should!

This is a no-brainer in our view, something that you should know already. But it is important to remind all customers that you should ONLY WEAR YOUR CONTACTS AS LONG AS THE PRODUCT INSTRUCTS YOU TO. That means if you wear dailies, wear them for only ONE DAY. If you wear two week lenses, do not go past 14 days, and so on. 

Why is is this so important? Because bacteria can accumulate on these lenses and can cause eye infections. What is so serious about this is if you DO NOT CLEAN your lenses properly or wear them for the amount of time recommended, you could be doing permanent damage to your eyes. You certainly don’t want that do you? 

 

For more on this, watch this video by our CEO – all about how to buy, wear and handle your contact lenses:

Tip #4

If you are sick with a cold, a flu or any other short-term illness…

This is an important tip to remember. If you ARE SICK, with anything, it is always a good idea to suspend wearing your contact lenses if at all possible. This does not have to be a big, long-term suspension. Just wear them as little as possible while you are sick and contagious (usually the first few days you become sick).

If you cannot stop wearing your contact lenses or if that is simply too inconvenient, then take EXTRA CARE when cleaning and caring for your lenses. What does this mean?  Make sure your hands and the surfaces around (where you put in and take out contact lenses) is properly sterilized. You do NOT want to insert bacteria or virus elements directly into your eye. If someone in your family is sick and you are not – again – take extra care that your hands, your contacts and the area where you handle your contacts are clean and sterile. 

Tip #5

Buy your contact lenses with us at Contactsforless.ca if you live in Canada. Why?

There are many reasons for this! But one of the big ones is that we have a company policy that no employee can work while sick, PERIOD! We send any person on our team home immediately and then disinfect the area where they work. This has been a company policy for years. While other companies may or may not take such precautions, we have always made sure our customers are safe.

Now with the Coronavirus, it is even more critical that all boxes and products that are handled are done so by folks who are healthy and who are NOT INFECTED by the Coronavirus. Luckily no one on our staff has been hit by this and we take great precautions at our facility in British Columbia, Canada to prevent ANYBODY FROM THE PUBLIC from entering our building. We do not allow anyone in who is not a courier or a shipping agent or staff member. This is smart and although this may or may not be the policy of the big, monster corporate giant websites who compete with us, it is our policy every single day and every single hour of every day.

 

MORE INFO BELOW:

View a very smart science-based video update on the Coronvirus view the video below or Click Here

To visit The Centre for Ocular Research & Education website – Click Here

 

To view two press releases related to this topic, please see:

Top Contact Lens Experts Dispel Misinformation Regarding Coronavirus / COVID-19 Protections for Contact Lens Wearers

CORE Advises Contact Lens Wearers on Safe Use Amidst COVID-19 Concerns, Reinforces Proper Hand Hygiene

Read all of our CEO Blog Reports – Click Here

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