Adapting to Your Contact Lenses

As you become adjusted to wearing contact lenses for the first time, you will experience several normal adaptation symptoms. Most, if not all, of these symptoms are associated with the normal protective reflex of the eye to produce more tears in response to a foreign object (your contact lens) in the eye. Some of the most common symptoms associated with this “reflex tearing” include:

• Vision seems indistinct or hazy (like looking through water)
• Lenses become filmy – This is due to the protein and lipids in your tears becoming attached to the surface of your contact lens.
• Eyes are itchy – The eyes are sensitive to this protein film.
• Eyes are red – A mild amount of redness or injection during your adaptation period is normal.

All of these symptoms associated with excess reflex tearing tend to disappear as you become more “adapted” to your lenses. The adaptation process is related to your wearing time. As you build up more wearing time, the eye becomes less sensitized to the presence of your contact lenses. A lower sensitivity results in less reflex tearing, resulting in less protein and lipid buildup on your lenses. You should not wear your lenses for a longer period than the wearing schedule your doctor prescribed for you, but you can wear them less if you develop excessive symptoms. The most important aspect of your break in period is to gradually but consistently increase your wearing time.

Although most symptoms associated with the initial wear of your contacts are normal and to be expected, there are certain symptoms which are abnormal. If you experience these you should discontinue wearing your lenses until your doctor can evaluate the cause. These symptoms include:

• Pain – Although awareness of the lens and its movement on the eye is normal, pain or excessive discomfort is not.
• Excessive Redness – It may be difficult to judge whether redness is normal or excessive, but if the redness concerns you or is readily noticeable by others, you should discontinue wear.
• Discharge – Any whitish or thick stringy discharge in your eyes or on your lids is not normal. Discontinue wear immediately.
• Excessive Blur – Other than a mild fuzziness associated with reflex tearing, blurring of your vision is not normal. After checking to see if you may have accidentally switched your contacts in the wrong eye, discontinue wear. Your vision should remain at least as clear as it had tested at the time you received your lenses.

Adapting to your contacts should be accomplished with minimal discomfort and blur. A good rule of thumb to remember if you are unsure whether your symptoms are normal or not is:

“When in doubt, take them out”