Why You Should Pay Attention to Contact Expiration Dates

Contact lenses are one of the most popular forms of vision correction. But wearing  contact lenses in Corinth, MS requires a certain amount of responsibility for one’s own eye health. One of the ways that we at Corinth Eye Clinic help our patients with at-home contact lens care is to provide cleaning instructions and recommend the best contact lens cleaning solutions. But we’ve found that the most common error when it comes to wearing contact lenses has less to do with cleaning than with expiration dates.

What Happens With New Contact Lenses

When a person gets a new pair of contact lenses, they come in a box with a stamped expiration date on the box. The manufacturer is required to provide this. But after the box is opened and the new contact lenses are taken out of their sealed containers, the person usually stores the contact lenses in a contacts case. That’s all well and good, but that separates the expiration date from the lenses. Unlike things like ketchup bottles and packaged meats, it’s not like the person can look at their contact lens storage case and find the expiration date.

The Dangers of Ignoring Contact Expiration Dates

The expiration date of contact lenses has to do with the date when degradation of the lens may begin. This means the material that the lens is made of doesn’t last forever. Old contacts that are past their expiration date may no longer meet the prescription that your optometrist in Corinth, MS provided for you. The degradation of the material may even make the contact lens harmful to your eyes if worn.

Tips For Keeping Track of Contact Expiration Dates

We have a few tips for you to try:

• Use a marker to write the date of expiration on the bottom of the storage case as soon as you start using that case.
• Write the date in your calendar.
• Schedule a contact lens exam for the date of expiration, so you can get an up-to-date prescription at the same time.

Caring for your eye health at home means making sure you don’t put anything potentially bad into your eyes, including expired contact lenses. To learn more, please contact us today.