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DID YOU KNOW THAT CONTACT EYE-LENSES CAN ALTER BACTERIA IN THE EYE?

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 Wearing
contact lenses may change the community of bacteria living in your eyes,
according to a small new study. In the study, the surface of the eye in the
people who wore contact lenses had triple the proportion of certain bacteria
species, on average, compared with the people in the study who did not wear the
lenses, researchers found.
Moreover,
the researchers found differences in the composition of the bacterial community
on the surface of people’s eyes. In the people who wore contact lenses, this
composition more closely resembled the bacteria on the individuals’ eyelids, as
compared to the non-wearers. The study included about nine people who wore
contacts and 11 who did not.

The research
clearly shows that putting a foreign object, such as a contact lens, on the eye
is not a neutral act. More research is needed to examine whether these changes
in eye bacteria come from fingers touching the eye, or whether the pressure of
a contact lens somehow alters the immune system in the eye. The findings that
would come after the proper research may shed some light on “the
long-standing problem of why contact-lens wearers are more prone to eye
infections than non-lens wearers.
Since the
introduction of soft contact lenses in the 1970s, there has been an increase in
the prevalence of corneal ulcers, which are sores on the transparent covering
of the eye. One type of bacteria that may cause corneal ulcers, called
Pseudomonas, was more abundant in the eyes of people who wore contacts. Because
these bacteria may come to the eyes from the skin, people should pay close
attention to eyelid and hand hygiene to avoid getting corneal ulcers
More studies
need to be conducted to see how exactly these differences in bacterial
composition may affect eye health. Millions of people wear contact lenses, and
even though these individuals may have an altered bacterial community in the
eye, most do not experience complications related to wearing the lenses,
however, when such complications do occur, they are quite serious. There are simple
steps that all contact-lens wearers can take to prevent potential complications
from wearing the lenses, “Wash your hands, change your lens solution every
day, keep your lens case clean,” People 
using daily lenses, which need to be changed every day, should not keep
wearing the same lenses for several weeks.
Individuals
should also visit their ophthalmologists regularly to check on their eye
health. And if lenses feel uncomfortable, the wearers should take them out and
consult their ophthalmologists. If something does not feel right, it means that
it is not right.
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