Contact lenses are the miracle invention of thirty-five years ago, and the nuisance of today. Soft lenses have made them a comfortable and affordable option. Still, folks go to great lengths to avoid cleaning them. Daily disposable users go the safest route to avoid the chore, but, unfortunately, many people simply skip cleaning their daily wear contacts.

Why clean contact lenses? Your eyes were simply not designed to have a foreign object in them, and even the best and most effective lens is still a foreign object. Worse, it's a foreign object that, at best, prevents air from reaching your eye. That doesn't sound so bad does it? Think again. Your eyes need oxygen. When they don't receive it, you can develop pits in your corneas. Think bedsores of the eye. It's a sloppy analogy, but it works.

At worst lenses, can scratch your cornea, trap foreign particles against your eye, breed bacteria, and destroy your vision. Of course, if your corneas are vulnerable from lack of oxygen, foreign particles and bacteria are that much worse.

Great, contact lenses make your eyes vulnerable to all sorts of things, but what does that have to do with cleaning them? Clean, sterilized contacts are less likely to breed bacteria. They are also more air permeable. Finally, a clean lens is one that is less likely to have a foreign particle.

Now that you're convinced, let's take a look at how to clean your lenses. No matter what system of solutions you use to clean your lenses, cleaning consists of five steps. First, wash your hands. Next, you clean the lens, a sort of scrubbing step. Then, rinse off the cleaner. Fourth, sterilize the lens. Finally, rinse it again before wearing. Some people treat their lenses periodically with an enzyme cleaner, in order to remove protein buildup from their lenses.

Now, the exact steps and solutions you use will vary from solution family to solution family. Some allow you to use the same solution for all three steps. Even if you use a multi-purpose solution, you should never skip a single step.

****Handwashing

It seems like an obvious thing to do, but it's a tempting step to skip in the name of expediency. Think of it this way: you don't want to stick a dirty finger into your eye. Also, you can't get a contact clean when you handle it with dirty hands.

Wash you hands with warm water and soap. Rinse them thoroughly, and then dry them on a lint free towel or cloth. Paper towels are almost ideal for this.

****Cleaning

Cleaning uses a product usually referred to as a daily cleaner. It comes in drop form, and should not be placed in the eye.

Hold the lens in your hand, and place a few drops on it. Rub it gently with a finger from the other hand. Some cleaners may feel sudsy when they are working. Whether your cleaner is sudsy or not, work it into the lens for the full amount of time specified by the cleaner's manufacturer.

****Rinsing

Rinse each lens for the length of time specified by the directions provided by either your eye care professional or those that came with the lens cleaner. If your cleaner feels sudsy during the cleaning step, then it should be absolutely free of that feeling after rinsing.

You want your lens to be absolutely free of the cleanser, as if you were about to put it in your eye. But don't put it into your eye, because while you've cleaned your lens, you're not done.

****Disinfecting

Disinfecting, or sterilizing, your lens chemically cooks them to ensure that they are free of bacteria. Just because you placed your lenses into their case doesn't mean you are actually disinfecting them. Be sure and follow the solution's manufacturer's directions. Different solutions require different lengths of time.

****Rinsing

You already know how to do this. Just like before, rinse them according to manufacturers directions.

****Enzyme cleaning

Your eyes deposit protein on your lenses. If you keep them for a week or more, consider removing these deposits once a week. Your lenses will be cleaner, since the daily solutions can reach them more easily. They'll also be more comfortable and clearer. Again, follow the manufacturer's directions.

What solutions you use are up to you. Some people find it hard to incorporate many solutions into their routine. Others discover that all-in-one solutions irritate their eyes.

Discontinue use of anything that makes your eyes red, itchy, blurry or that hurts. If you have this problem with many solutions, talk to your eye care professional about what to use. You may be allergic to an ingredient shared by the products. You may not be a good candidate for daily wear lenses.

In general, make your purchases within one product family. The exception to this is saline solution as a rinsing solution. Here, you can go generic without risk, and at considerable savings.