If you wear contact lenses, you are familiar with the frustration of less-than-perfect vision. Depending on how bad your eyesight is, you may feel quite helpless if you aren’t wearing your contacts.
However, a recent survey reveals that a vast majority of people who wear lenses aren’t doing their eyesight any favors. Over time, people get lazy or less regimented with their contact routine and develop some pretty bad habits. These habits can be so bad they further compromise a person’s vision and could ultimately cause blindness.
The survey was conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and revealed that a whopping 99 percent of those surveyed were at risk of ultimately developing a very serious infection.
Among the bad habits reported were:
- Sleeping in contact lenses
- Not replacing disinfectant solution every day
- Storing lenses in dirty, old contact cases
- Taking showers with lenses in, exposing them to potentially contaminated tap water
A spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology noted that these behaviors can and do lead to serious eye infections. In some cases, the infections can be so bad that sufferers require surgery or lose their eyesight altogether.
Losing your sense of sight can be an enormously upsetting experience for any person. Whether your sight is completely gone or seriously compromised, you may no longer be able to do many things in your daily life without assistance or considerable adjustments. For instance, you may not be able to continue working, which can further complicate an already difficult situation.
Blindness is a condition that can make a person eligible for critical sources of financial relief, including disability benefits. Anyone who has questions or concerns about this condition and the options for pursuing economic support can discuss their situation with an attorney familiar with Social Security benefits and the process of pursuing them.
Source: USA Today, “Study: Bad hygiene a problem for nearly all contact lens users,” Mary Bowerman, Aug. 20, 2015
