5 Dangerous Contact Lens Mistakes You Should Avoid

There can be different explanations behind individuals wearing contact lenses. They are considered convenient and aesthetically valuable; particularly among people with severe nearsightedness who have to wear extremely thick glasses otherwise.

The majority of contact lens users don’t use proper hygiene and that puts them at risk of both minor (irritation) and frightening (vision loss), eye infections, including inflammation of the cornea called keratitis. One type of keratitis called microbial keratitis can occur when bacteria, viruses, and even amoebae invade the cornea. keratitis can lead to blindness or the need for corneal transplant.

Your contacts require a ton of consideration as far as taking care of, wearing and taking them off. Indeed, even a minor slip-up might give you a horrifying contamination and even lasting visual impairment. A large number of people treat them as a cosmetic item, remember that your contacts are a medical device and should be used responsibly and safely. Here are five dangerous contact lens mistakes you should avoid.

1. Wearing contacts for too long

Try not to hold up to change your contact lenses until they begin to feel uncomfortable. Adhere to the substitution plan your specialist recommends. Studies have found that half of individuals utilizing dispensable lenses wear them longer that their suggested plan.

Wearing contact lens for too long is very bad for the eye as the cornea (surface of your eye) needs oxygen to keep it healthy. In spite of the fact that contact lenses are gas porous, it does not allow as much oxygen to reach your eyes as when you keep your eyes naked

Contact lenses make a warm and sodden environment where microorganisms such as bacteria, parasites and fungi flourish and breed. So therefore keeping the contact lens laid on your eyes for a drawn out stretch of time offers more opportunity for microorganisms to delve into your cornea and feast upon it.

2. Going Into Water With Contact Lens On

The shower, hot tub, swimming pool, or other bodies of water can contain bacteria and amoebae which might devastate your eyes if you don’t disinfect your contact lenses properly. A terrifying disease called Acanthamoeba keratitis notorious for showing up in hot tubs could get into your lens and might lead to vision loss and even blindness. If you have to shower with your contacts on, try to keep your eyes closed as much as possible. And if you do end up getting water on your contacts do not forget to clean them.

3. Wearing lengthening mascaras

Most ‘lengthening’ mascaras contain tiny fibres that stick to the eyelashes, making them look longer. However, these tiny fibres can fall off and get under contact lenses, irritating the eye.

‘There is nothing to say that these fibres are harmful to the eye, but they can irritate it, making you rub it,’ says Adrian Knowles. ‘The problem is your fingers may not be very clean’

4. Sleeping with contact lenses on

If you sleep with your contacts on, you’ll stand a five percent higher risk of developing CIEs. The warmth and moisture in your eyes trigger the action of microorganisms that may have been lurking on the lenses or may have entered your eyes through the air. Sleeping with your lenses on is one of the top causes of corneal ulcer—an extremely painful and costly eye infection.

5. Using an unapproved contact lens cleaning care system

Not all contact lens care systems are as effective at disinfection.  Avoid the temptation to purchase a cheaper generic solution.  Instead, use the care system the doctor specifically recommends for use with your brand of contact lenses.

‘Hand of God’

It looks like a fireball has been travelling through the sky.

Not so: this is actually a cloud that was captured earlier this week by photographer and weather blogger Rogerio Pacheco on the Portuguese island of Madeira. He published it on his blog and described the cloud as "the hand of God".

We spoke to the BBC weather meteorologist Aisling Creevey to find out why such a spectacular "fireball" tore up the morning sky. We spoke to the BBC weather meteorologist Aisling Creevey to find out why such a spectacular "fireball" tore up the morning sky. 

It might surprise you that clouds with this type of structure are quite common, she says, but we usually don’t have the luxury of seeing them in this way.

The reason the cloud appeared like this was because light from the sun caught onto a clump of cloud at a lower altitude just as it came into contact with cloud higher up.


There are three layers of clouds, she explains. And this fireball seems to be mixing some layers. The dark features for instance, appear to be clouds at a "middle” altitude - 2,400 - 6,100m - called altostratus clouds.

In fact, clouds like this might be above us all the time, but we usually cannot distinguish the differing shades of grey from each other very clearly. "This cloud is no more complex than normal but just happens to [have been photographed at] the exact moment that the light was caught," says Creevey.

Another meterologist, Emma Sharples from the UK's Met Office agrees. She says: "I think the presence of a rising sun has made [it] appear more striking than the clouds alone would appear. We think they are probably cumulus clouds [cauliflower-shaped and fluffy], so pretty common, but enhanced by the light conditions."

Pacheco was lucky to have captured these images, as the cloud would not have appeared like this for long, possibly only a couple of minutes, adds Creevey.

PDP crisis deepen as Gulak files fresh suits against NEC meeting

The self-declared National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, has returned to court, asking it to stop the party from holding its National Executive Committee meeting or any other meeting, according to The Punch.

Gulak also asked the Court of Appeal to restrain the Acting National Chairman and the Secretary of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, and Prof. Wale Oladipo, or any other person from presiding over any of the party’s meetings.

In a motion filed by his lawyer, Mr. J.S. Okutepa (SAN), at the Court of Appeal on January 29, “Gulak is seeking an order restraining the party from allowing any other person to act as its National Chairman or preside over its meetings.”

He urged the court to hold that he “is the only person in the PDP that is legally allowed to occupy the office of the National Chairman of the party, except a December 16, 2015 judgment of Justice Baba Husaein is overturned by a superior court of competent jurisdiction.”

The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal has fixed February 3 to hear the appeal.

Meanwhile, Gulak had also filed another suit before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, through his lawyer, Silva Opusunju, asking the court to determine whether the December 16 judgment of Justice Husaein was not valid while the outcome of the appeal filed by the PDP was being awaited.

Joined as respondents in the suit are the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko; its National Secretary, Oladipo; and the party’s National Legal Adviser, Mr. Victor Kwon.

He also asked the court to determine whether Secondus was not being contemptuous of the court when he continued to parade himself as the PDP national chairman in spite of the court judgment.

Meanwhile, the PDP has urged the judiciary to continue to assert its independence and not allow itself to be deterred from upholding justice and the rule of law, no matter the pressure.

Secondus, who spoke for the party at its National Secretariat in Abuja during the inauguration of the Imo State chapter of the PDP, was reacting to a statement credited to President Muhammadu Buhari on the need to reform the judiciary.

The President was quoted to have said that the fight against corruption would not be successful if the judiciary was not reformed.

The polygamy hoax that spread from Iraq to Eritrea

A false rumour that men in Eritrea would be legally obliged to marry at least two women went viral this week. But it's a hoax that has hit at least four countries to date, and actually began in Iraq, where it wasn't as implausible as it seems.

When a far fetched story about enforced polygamy in Eritrea began circulating, it captured attention across the continent. But in fact similar stories - all of them false - have cropped up in a number of countries since the beginning of the year.

And in each case, the way hoaxers spread the rumour on social media pretty much identical. Here's how it plays out.

An "official" government document is leaked on social media, bearing a letterhead, or the signature of a supposed dignitary.

It reads - and we're paraphrasing here - "Due to the recent troubles in our country, we are experiencing a serious shortage of men, and an abundance of woman. Men are now legally required to take at least two wives, and any that fail to do so will face strict punishment." The punishments range from life imprisonment to the death penalty.

The Eritrean government has since been battling to set the story straight, dismissing the document as a fraud, and explaining that polygamy is illegal in the East African nation. It hasn't been able to stop chatter spreading on social media, and a raft of jokes at the countries expense. But more on those later.

Although the rumour about Eritrea went viral, it isn't the first country to be hit by the hoax. At least three other countries have been the subject of the same story, which appears to have begun in Iraq.

A letter mocked up using an official looking letterhead began circulating there early in January, making the same declaration. Because of the country's recent woes, men who failed to take at least two wives would be punished by death, it read.

Of course, it was a hoax as well, but it may not have seemed as absurd a proposition as it did later in other countries. Back in 2011 the BBC reported that Iraqi politicians were considering offering men financial incentives to marry a second wife. Years of conflict have left the country with more than a million war widows, and a shortage of unmarried men. The proposals were never enacted.

Following Iraq, a near-identical hoax document surfaced claiming to be from the government of Sudan. And Arabic news sites suggest a similar letter supposedly from officials in Saudi Arabia was circulated as well - before the story about Eritrea cropped up.

And the rumour about Eritrea? That actually began in Kenya and Nigeria. It was first reported by Kenyan news site Crazy Monday, well known for its focus on gossip stories according to Mathias Muindi from the BBC's media monitoring service. The story was picked up and reported as fact in Nigeria and later South Africa as well.

It spread quickly, and it wasn't long before jokes stared spreading on social networks like WhatsApp and Twitter, mostly involving men from outside the country flocking to Eritrea in the hope of finding multiple wives.

Iheanacho takes over Nasri’s place in City’s CL squad

MANCHESTER City have included Kelechi Iheanacho in their Champions League squad.The 19-year-old who has been in fine form for the Citizen this season replaces Sami Nasri who has been ruled out of the competition.

“Yes, Kelechi will be in the Champions League squad. I told Samir Nasri I would take him out of the list as he needs two months more to be fit. We need Kelechi now as Bony is injured too. We couldn’t take the risk to go into the last 16 game with just Kun,” Pellegrini confirmed to club’s website.

“It’s always difficult to tell a player he will not continue in the list but Samir understood perfectly that he needs at least two months more.

“It wouldn’t have been easy for him to recover his best performance in that length of time. We needed another striker and Kelechi is in a good moment.

“Kelechi is one player in our squad – it’s important when young players have the option to show why they’re an important player. He will continue trying to fight to start every game. For me, as a manager, you have to work with the whole squad as we have to play so many games.

“It’s important for everyone, not just for the players but for the club who’ve invested a lot of money in the training ground to have players arriving from the Academy into the first-team.

“It’s important to bring young players into the first-team but they must be good players so that we continue to be a competitive team,” he concluded.

With Goal.com