Replacing Contact Lenses: How Often Should I Replace My Contact Lenses?
If you are a contact lens wearer, you may be wondering how often you should replace your contact lenses. Through this article, you will be provided with some basic guidelines to use when trying to decide if the time is right to change or replace your contact lenses.
Keep in mind that if you do have any specific questions about your contact lenses and wearing contact lenses -- including the replacement of your contact lenses -- you would be very well served to contact your eye doctor. Your eye doctor can provide you with authoratative information about your vision, about eye care and about your contact lenses.
Disposable Contact Lenses
Disposable contact lenses fist came on the market in the late 1980’s. Disposable contacts are to be worn and then thrown away after a specified period of time. Not only are disposable contact lenses the easiest and healthiest type of contacts available but are preferred with consumers and eye care specialists.
Understanding Your Specific Type of Contact Lenses
To understand how often your contacts should be replaced, you need to understand what type of contacts that are available and how long each are to be worn before they are to thrown away.
When to Replace Disposable Contact Lenses
Disposable lenses are to be worn for only one day or some for up to two weeks, whereas frequent replacement lenses can be worn for up to a month or even three months before they need to be disposed of. Traditional lenses, also known as reusable lenses are to be replaced approximately every six months or sometimes longer, depending on how often you wear them.
Keep in Mind Manufacturer's Recommendations
The reason that manufacturers recommend a certain replacement time for various contact lenses is based on how long they can be worn without getting a buildup of protein, calcium and lipid deposits. Although you will clean your contacts, if they are not daily disposables, in which case they are thrown away daily, all contacts will eventually get deposits that can not be removed and that build up on the lenses. These deposits make your contacts less comfortable than when they were new and can make your eyes more prone to infections.
Replacement to Avoid Infections
Before disposable lenses, frequent replacement was still advised to keep the wearer from getting eye infections and irritation. But many people did not replace them when they should have because the cost was prohibitive; therefore more people had problems with eye infections than they do now with the newly designed daily and short term wear contacts.
Cleaning and Caring for Your Contact Lenses
In the past, contacts were worn for much longer before they were discarded and more emphasis was placed on various cleaning solutions and devices that prolonged the use of the lenses. But today, disposable lenses require less maintenance and are simply thrown away.
What does procrastination have to do with positioning yourself? Everything. Every time you push back a due date, or turn in a report late, or submit shoddy work because you waited until the last minute, you position yourself as someone who never comes through on time. are hurting your professional image. You position yourself as someone who never comes through on time. To fight procrastination, take action in small steps.
Here are some quick tips to help you keep on track:
Start small. Attack smaller pieces of a large project one at a time instead of trying to get your arms around the entire thing. You will be better able to focus on that one task rather than thinking of the larger, broader project all at once.
Seek counsel. If you’re working on something that is a little out of your league, go to other professionals for information and advice. You’ll be surprised how willing people are to share their expertise with you.
Ask “Why?” We often procrastinate because we don’t like to do specific tasks. Getting to the real reason why you hate doing something helps you identify any obstacles so you can move forward.
Chart your progress. Some respond better to visual stimulation. Seeing a checked off “To Do” item, or a progress graph, or a photo of your children on your desk to remind you that they need to be fed will keep you motivated.
Forget about being perfect. The 40 hours you put into a report that only required 20, doesn’t automatically make it better. You can accomplish more with less reworking time if you remain focused.
Reward yourself. One of the best ways to stop procrastinating is to develop a reward program. For instance, if you have two weeks to put together a marketing campaign, think of ways to reward yourself for completing small assignments each day.
How did I learn this? I was scheduled to address a colleague’s university class on the topic of goal setting. The first place I went was to my bookshelf for a book appropriately titled, “Procrastination.” I had received it in the late 1980s through a Business Book of the Month Club. Fourteen years later, I opened the book for the first time. We all have procrastination lapses.
Put these procrastination tips to work for you, and position yourself like a professional. If all else fails, then visit your nearest library or bookstore and pick up a copy of Procrastination for Dummies. And don’t put off reading it!
A treatment team may consist of any combination of professionals working with the client, including a physician, psychiatrist, dietician, therapist, and group or family therapist. Here are some tips for building your team:
Remember that the members of your team are there to work for you. Therefore, it is important to find people that you feel good about and who are knowledgeable about eating disorders. You are hiring them and it is a matter of finding the right match. Having said this, be sure you don't run from professional to professional rejecting everyone. If you meet a few and no one seems right, you'll need to look more to yourself. Decide your requirements and whether you have any resistances to treatment.
Allow your treatment team to communicate with each other. They need to collaborate to give you the best of all their skills. It is harder if each one has only a part of the picture. This does not mean, for example, that your therapist needs to tell all your personal secrets to your physician, but that these two people, and all team members, can discuss the pertinent details. In fact, be an advocate for yourself and make sure they communicate with each other.
When working with all members of your team, be open, honest, and truthful. Also, allow yourself to be vulnerable. It does not help anyone to keep your feelings hidden. If you feel like you cannot tell the truth to at least one person, this is a problem. Some subjects are hard to talk about or admit, but you have to find at least one person on your team with whom you can tell everything. Then, that person can help you share what is considered important information with others.
Don't minimize your struggles or censor yourself. Try to say things as you experience them. Your team needs to know how hard things are for you. Don't put on a mask or "act."
You are going to have to give up some control. Know that the treatment team is there to help and that they have your best interest at heart. Don't think you can hang on to some control or just get better enough to be able to "manage" your eating disorder.
If you have a problem with any member of your team or course of treatment, discuss it. Let the professional know when he or she is not being helpful. Tell the person how you feel about your sessions and what you like and don't like.
Be proactive. Take the position that you are responsible for getting what you need out of your team, rather than expecting them to "make you better." Come in ready to talk. Do work between sessions. Ask for assignments.
Keep a journal of your feelings and your food intake and behaviors. Share this with your team.
Remember that you will have to push yourself beyond your current comfort level or there will be no growth.
Invite one or more family members or significant others into your sessions. It is best not to do treatment in isolation. Your team can help the important people in your life to understand you better and gain tools for helping support you.
Group and Inpatient Tips
Here are some extra thoughts if you are in a group setting or treatment program:
Be sensitive to the feelings of others who are also in treatment, but do not lose yourself in their struggles. Speak up if and when you get triggered by others' behaviors or comments. However, be careful not to blame anyone else for your feelings. You have to say how another person's behavior affected you, rather than judging that person.
Take treatment one day at a time. Do not focus on when you are going to get out. Recovery is a process.
Do not waste time delineating all the faults of the program and/or staff. There will be activities you like and do not like. Instead of distracting yourself, focus on what you are there to do. Work around the activities or staff members that are not your favorites. Whether at work, school, or elsewhere, there will always be experiences that you don't enjoy. Working on your responses will give you good practice for dealing with conflict in the future.
Do not spend too much time e-mailing or talking to friends and family. It is fine to stay in touch, but don't let them get all your words, complaints, or tears. Sometimes sharing too much with others who are not in treatment keeps clients from sharing with the staff and other peers who need to know what you are thinking and feeling. This prevents you from working through problems at the moment with a supportive network.
Do not take the attitude of joining with other clients against the staff in an "us against them" position that is commonly found in treatment settings. Clients who take up this kind of attitude often try to see what they can get away with. This is a nonproductive and even dangerous attitude and will lead to you possibly siding with the eating disorder instead of recovery. You and the staff are on the same side; the eating disorder part of you is on the other side. The staff is there to help you fight the battle between you and your eating disorder self. Be careful not to forget which side you are on.
YOU AND THE STAFF ARE ON THE SAME SIDE; THE EATING DISORDER PART OF YOU IS ON THE OTHER SIDE.
No matter where you are in treatment, be sure to set goals for yourself and honestly evaluate them from time to time with your team. This will help everyone stay focused on where you are going and where you have been. Appreciate the small steps. Recovery is a long, but worthwhile process.
Want to learn more about leading your team and to achieve performance increase? Click here.
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Zaterdag 10 september 2005. Bij Serina's plekje 
