Each year The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) designates the third full week of August as Contact Lens Health Week, an event meant to promote optimal eye health for those who wear contacts through education and support resources. In coordination with various partners in the vision health community,  The CDC has coordinated the event to focus on healthy contact application, wear-and-tear, maintenance and multiple other topics relevant to the contact lens-wearing population. 

Importance of Contact Lens Health Week 

The CDC reports that approximately 45 million Americans wear contact lenses, many of whom experience complications and difficulties that are often the result of improper application and maintenance: 

• One out of every 500 contact lens-wearers experiences eye infections that can lead to blindness per year. 
• Failure to follow proper contact maintenance instructions has been linked to outbreaks of serious eye infections. 
• Between 40%-90% of contact lens wearers do not properly follow the care instructions for their contact lenses. 
• Improper care, maintenance and application of contact lenses and contact lens cases have been linked to a higher risk of complications. 

Poor contact hygiene is also linked to keratitis, a painful eye infection, contributing to one million hospital visits per year for the condition. Events like Contact Lens Health Week offer increased opportunities to prevent these incidents and improve eye health and quality of life for contact lens patients by focusing on proper contact hygiene, risks associated with poor use and the importance of continued follow-up with your care provider. 

How Can I Improve My Contact Lens Hygiene and Awareness?

The CDC offers many opportunities to educate yourself and those around you. There are multiple graphic, video and outreach resources that focus on a diverse range of subjects within contact lens health conversation. They also offer a complete social media library to easily share important facts and insights. Get involved and start sharing today! You never know who you may be helping!

*CDC  (2020, July 20), Contact Lens Health Week Toolkit https://www.cdc.gov/contactlenses/contact-lens-health-week.html