Travelling requires a lot of background work, such as booking your hotels, getting your air tickets sorted and of course, packing! Whether you’re going for a relaxing summer holiday or a long business trip, it’s important to pack your daily essentials, especially your contact lenses, if you wear them.
Here are some of our top tips to enjoy hassle-free travel with your contact lenses.
Pack extra contact lenses
First things first, don’t forget your eye care essentials. Always pack extra contact lenses when you’re travelling. You never know when you might require an extra pair. Think of it like carrying an extra pair of clothes, just in case. Say, you touch your eyes and accidently damage your lens, that’s when an extra pair of lenses can come handy, and you’ll be so glad you carried them! Don’t forget to carry a contact lens travel case with you.
If you’re carrying Dailies
If you’re carrying dailies, you don’t have to worry about cleaning the lenses. The whole purpose of daily contact lenses is that you’re able to dispose of them at the end of the day. So, put them in when you wake up and discard them before your bedtime. However, again it’s very important to put your contact lenses in with the correct hygiene practice.
If you’re not sure how to put your contacts in, follow the below steps:
- First and foremost, wash your hands with soap and water
- Make sure to dry your hands with a lint-free towel, so that no fibres are transferred to your eyes during the process
We suggest carrying dailies while travelling as they are very handy – use them throughout the day and throw them away, no need to worry about cleaning them or carrying a travel solution and lens case. You might want to just lie down after having a fun beach day or a long meeting, you might be tired and not want a lens cleaning routine on top of that. Just opt for daily lenses and make it all easy.
How to dispose of daily contact lenses
You should be mindful of how you dispose of your contacts. Although lenses contribute to a tiny fraction of plastic waste, it is still our responsibility to look after the environment.
You should dispose of your contacts in solid waste bins and avoid throwing them into the sink or the toilet. This is because if you flush them elsewhere, such as the toilet, they end up in water treatment plants and become a part of sewage sludge or flow into the ocean. This gets worse, fishes and smaller organisms consume these contacts, and as a part of the food cycle, when we consume seafood we are actually eating the plastic that was disposed of in the oceans. Sounds bad doesn’t it?
If you’re carrying monthlies or two-weeklies
If you plan to carry monthly, two-weekly or extended wear contact lenses, the second thing you should pack (obviously after your contact lenses) should be a lens case followed by contact lens solution, remember to pack a travel-sized solution that will last for the duration of your holiday. We recommend carrying an all-in-one, multi-purpose solution such as comfi All-in-One Solution and more than one lens case, just in case your lens case gets damaged. You can opt for pack of three lens case from Feel Good Contacts.
Monthlies, a lens case and solution go hand in hand. Although monthlies are more cost-effective than dailies, practicing good hygiene is essential.
Clean and store contact lenses
Here’s a step-by-step guide to how to look after your monthly contacts:
- Always use fresh solution to clean and store your contacts
- Wash your hands and dry them with a lint-free towel
- Take one lens out at a time. Place the lens on your palm, cover the lens in recommended cleaning solution
- Using your finger, gently rub the lens to remove any debris or deposit that may have built up during the day
- Again, rinse the lens with saline solution or multipurpose solution to make sure there’s no debris
- Fill a clean contact lens case with disinfecting solution
- Place the lens inside the case and leave as long as recommended on the packaging; disinfecting is vital to kill the microorganisms
- Repeat for the other lens too
Cleaning your contact case is equally important.
- Discard the old solution from the lens case
- Rinse the case with some fresh solution
- Dry your case by keeping it upside down on a clean tissue
- Every three months, replace your lens case
More top tips for contact lens wearers
It is always wise to opt for UV contact lenses, however, UV absorbing lenses are not a replacement for protective UV sunglasses. Hence, if you’re travelling to a sunny place, you should carry both sunglasses and contact lenses.
Carry a pair of glasses. Especially when you’re flying for long hours, the air conditioning inside the plane can make your eyes dry, wearing glasses can be a good option. If it’s a short flight, you can opt for wearing contacts. Carrying a spare pair of glasses is always handy.
You can carry your lens solution in the cabin baggage, provided the solution bottle is under 100ml, anything above 100 ml in your hand-baggage can be confiscated.
If you’ve planned a beach vacation, avoid wearing your contacts in water at all costs. Contact lenses that come into contact with water can cause a range of possible of eye infections. You can opt for prescription goggles instead. Better to be safe than sorry!
If you haven’t ordered your contact lenses for your trip, here’s your cue, order from Feel Good Contacts, the UK’s number one online contact lens retailer. They stock some great brands of dailies, two-weeklies, monthlies, and coloured contacts. They are 50% cheaper than any high-street optician. To back this up, they offer a Price Match Guarantee on their contact lenses too! So, if you find the same contact lens elsewhere for a cheaper price, they’ll refund you the difference. There’s more, it’s never too late with them, order as late as 11:59pm and get your contacts delivered the very next day! So, don’t wait any more, click here to order your contacts. Happy travelling!
