Eye contacts come with instructions on how to put them in and take them out, clean them, and maintain them. Unfortunately, a majority of contact wearers aren’t following those instructions. A recent study published by Optometry and Vision Science shows that only 2% actually follow the rules for keeping their eyes clean, while more than 80% think they do, but don’t.

With dirty eyes comes infection and disease, like pink eye, corneal ulcers, and E. coli, that can do major and permanent damage to your vision. Thankfully, Women’s Health Magazine postted eight rules that contact users should follow to keep their eyes clean:

  • Avoid getting your lenses wet
  • Don’t sleep in your lenses
  • Before handling your contacts, use soap and water to wash your hands, and then dry them with a lint-free towel
  • Never wet your lenses with your saliva
  • Don’t use saline solution to disinfect your lenses
  • Discard your old lenses and start a new pair when you are supposed to
  • When cleaning your lenses, rub your lenses with your fingers and then rinse them with the solution (even if you have “no-rub” solution)
  • Rinse your contact lens case with solution, not water. Allow the case to air-dry.

If you follow some of these basic rules, you should avoid any sort of infections or damage from contacts.