The 7 things you should NEVER do with contact lenses – after Kate Garraway ended up in hospital with eye injury

WEARING contact lenses can be uncomfortable and cleaning them can be tricky.

But not taking care of them can lead to all kinds of problems.

It's something that broadcaster Kate Garraway found out the hard way this week when her contact lenses ended up putting her in hospital.

The Good Morning Britain presenter revealed that doctors had to remove a six-day-old lens from her eye ball.

The 52-year-old had a piece of an old contact in her eye and had developed a nasty infection.

She told her co-stars on Good Morning Britain this morning: "A team of eye nurses were baffled, absolutely baffled.

"Then eventually, after having drops, they found it was actually a contact lens stuck in my eye that's been in there for about six days."

Kate, who is back at work after taking a break while husband Derek Draper was left seriously ill in hospital with coronavirus said: "I felt embarrassed - I thought I had taken it out, but there was bit still in there - just by root cause untidiness."

Most people wear contact lenses as an alternative to glasses and they can also give better vision for some eye conditions.

One expert has now revealed the 7 things you should never do with your contact lenses.

1. Sleep with your lenses in

Scott MacRae professor of opthalmology and visual science at the University of Rochester told Cosmopolitan that sleeping with your lenses in could be dangerous.

He said that this is related to overwearing your lenses, which he also does not recommend.

He added that bacteria could get into your eye and cause your eyes to become swollen or irritated.

2. Wash your hands first

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus we have all been washing our hands more and this is especially good for those people who wear contact lenses.

If you try and change or put in your contact lenses without washing your hands then you are just moving the bacteria from your finger tips to the lense - which then sits on your eye ball.

The bacteria can then move around in the eye and cause irritation.

3. Rub your eyes

Contact lenses can sometimes irritate your eyes - especially if they are on the dry side.

Prof MacRae said rubbing your eyes could lead to conditions such as keratoconus.

This is when the cornea or the eye goes from round, to a more pointed shape.

People with this condition will often receive a cornea transplant and will have to wear special contact lenses.

Prof MacRae said over the counter drops should stop you being tempted to rub the eyes.

4. Put them in your mouth

Often when you're out and about and you see a parent and child out together - and the dummy or pacifier drops on the floor, the doting parent will pop it in their mouth to clean off the dirt.

Prof MacRae says he knows people put lenses in their mouths to clean them, but urged against it.

He said there is more bacteria in your mouth than on your hands and said cleaning your lenses this way could lead to infection.

5. Overwear

If your eyeballs don't get enough oxygen then they can become irritated - this is why it's important you give them air and time off from wearing lenses.

Prof MacRae said you should have a schedule which allows periods of time when you are not wearing the lenses.

To give your eye balls a break you can also wear glasses in between.

6. Reuse dirty solution

If you've already used solution to clean your lenses, you shouldn't use it again Prof MacRae said.

He said that the bacteria will proliferate and the solution will stop being sterile.

"If that bacteria gets onto your lens and onto your eyeball, you could risk contracting something called a Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection."

7. Clean your lenses

Keeping your contact lenses cleaning is extremely important to eye health.

Bacteria can accumulate on lenses and if you don't clean them then this will end up in your eye.

This can cause autoimmune reactions such as giant papillary conjunctivitis which can leave you with bumps on the eye and could make you intolerant to contact lenses altogether.

Prof MacRae added: "Clean your contacts every day with cleaning solution, gently rubbing the lens with your finger to remove debris."