Love Your Lenses Week set for 25-31 March

The General Optical Council (GOC) has today announced that from 25-31 March it will be promoting Love Your Lenses Week in collaboration with a wide range of industry stakeholders and patient groups.

The week will aim to encourage patients to look after their eyes after GOC research showed that many people are not looking after their contact lenses properly – such as by not having regular eye checks with their optician or by allowing their lenses to come into contact with water. For example, 44 per cent of wearers are not complying with advice to avoid showering in their contact lenses.

The Love Your Lenses campaign provides patient-friendly information and ideas to help optometrists, contact lens opticians, contact lens manufacturers and retailers, and industry partners to celebrate the many benefits of contact lenses while reminding wearers of the need to treat contact lenses with love and respect.

Alistair Bridge, GOC Director of Strategy, said: “Contact lenses are enjoyed safely and loved by millions of people. If they are looked after properly they are safe and effective, but our research has shown that not all contact lens wearers know how to do this. We will be working with stakeholders across the optical sector to remind all contact lens wearers, including people who wear ‘cosmetic’ lenses, to go for an eye-check at least once a year. Their optician can tell them how to keep their eyes healthy, for example by making sure their lenses don’t ever come into contact with water.”

The GOC has a campaign toolkit which provides content and ideas to help organisations get involved with the week, for example by holding an event, putting up posters or reminding contact lens wearers how to treat lenses with love and respect via a newsletter or social media.

The campaign website is now live at www.loveyourlenses.com where practitioners and organisations can sign up to get involved in the week.