GUEST BLOG: BCLA student ambassador Naila Abid discusses the importance of contact lens compliance

As part of World Antibiotic Awareness Week, optometry students at Aston University were raising awareness of the importance of contact lens compliance. My colleagues and I spent the day encouraging people to take the antimicrobial pledge, to not misuse antibiotics, by signing up to become antibiotic guardians. 

We were raising awareness for what people should and shouldn’t be doing with their contact lenses to prevent infections, thus avoiding the use of antibiotics. 

The BCLA provided us with very useful resources to help promote this message. The students enjoyed receiving a do’s & don’ts factsheet to take away with them to remind them of the key points about being compliant with their contact lenses. 

We had a stall with prizes for students who signed up to become antibiotic guardians along with posters to show the dangers of not being compliant with contact lenses. 

Several students who wore contact lenses were able to take the BCLA ‘no water’ stickers for their CL boxes to remind them of the importance of keeping water away from their lenses. 

To reinforce this message, we had an image of acanthamoeba keratitis (along with other eye infections), to show the dangers of not being compliant. 

Overall, we received great feedback for the event, held on Wednesday 15 November, and were able to get numerous students to sign up to becoming antibiotic guardians.