Second Love Your Lenses week set for 24-30 March

Following the success of last year’s Love Your Lenses Week the GOC will be orchestrating the campaign for its second year from 24-30 March.  

The GOC is calling for stakeholders from across the optical sector to support the patient safety campaign. The GOC is providing a campaign toolkit to help optometrists, contact lens opticians, contact lens manufacturers and retailers, and industry partners to remind people to love their lenses so that they can continue to enjoy the benefits of wearing them.

The toolkit includes advice for contact lens users, graphics that can be shared on social media, ideas for activities in practices, posters and much more to help everyone get involved in the week.

The GOC launched the campaign last year in response to research showing that many members lens wearers were unaware of, and/or not complying with, good practice in looking after their contact lenses. Working in partnership with a range of organisations across the optical sector the campaign reached millions of patients across mainstream and social media.

The campaign this year will focus on the importance of thoroughly washing and drying hands before touching contact lenses. With the key message of the campaign being ‘Wash hands and dry before touching your eye’. This simple and effective message applies to all lens wear modalities and is recognised by industry experts as a behaviour amenable to change.

Alistair Bridge, GOC Director of Strategy, said “Many people in the UK enjoy wearing contact lenses and do so safely. However, our research has shown that not all contact lens wearers know how to look after them properly and this can create a patient safety risk.

“Last year’s Love Your Lenses campaign reached millions of people. But to repeat and build on the success this year it’s vital that once again the whole industry gets behind the campaign.”

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