Preventing contact lens mistakes

(This article was published in Right as Rain by UW Medicine: Are You Making These Contact Lens Mistakes?)

If you wear contact lenses, you’re probably familiar with the following scenario: You’ve arrived at your hotel room late, only to realize you forgot to pack contact lens fluid. Would it be so bad to sleep in your contacts and run to the drugstore in the morning? Or what about this: You’re running late, and as you hop in the shower, you realize your contact lenses are still in. Is it really worth the trouble to get out of the shower and take them out?

It turns out that when it comes to contact lens hygiene, it pays to be diligent. After all, it’s way more annoying (and dangerous) to get an infection than it is to pop your lenses out.  

Why contact lens safety is important  

If you’ve been wearing contact lenses for a long time, it’s only natural to become a bit nonchalant about them. Maybe you do sleep with them in on occasion or jump in the shower or a pool without taking them out. But here’s the thing: Poor contact lens hygiene increases your risk of an eye infection.  

“The contact lens is like a house that can host all these bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites,” says Assistant Professor Minh Nguyen, MD, who specializes in cornea disease. “If we do not clean them every day, the risk of infections will be a lot higher.”

Here are four ways to protect your eyes while wearing contacts.

Don’t sleep in contact lenses

It can be tempting to keep your contact lenses in overnight, especially if you’re traveling or camping. But keeping your contact lenses in does a lot more than just dry your eyes out.  

“When that happens, the cornea, which is the clear membrane in front of your eye, does not get enough oxygen,” says Nguyen.  

This can inflame the cornea and make it more vulnerable to infection from bacteria or other microbes that might be lurking in your contact lenses.  

Expert advice: Always have your glasses with you as backup in case you don’t have a way to clean your contact lenses. Another tip? Get daily contact lenses, which don’t require cleaning, and stash a bunch in your toiletry bag. (If you wear them every day, daily contacts can be more expensive than monthlies, however, so consider your budget and how often you wear contacts versus glasses in your daily life.)

Take your contact lenses out before showering 

When it comes to showering in contact lenses, there’s an even scarier germ to beware of: a parasite called Acanthamoeba.

“This is the most dangerous parasite because it can melt the cornea and cause a very severe infection,” says Nguyen. “And right now we do not have good antiparasitic medications for this infection.”

These amoebas can live in tap water and then get into your contact lens while you’re showering.  

According to Nguyen, who studies Acanthamoeba, these infections are rare. However, the number of them has been increasing in recent years as more people wear contact lenses, which are responsible for 90% of infections. Researchers estimate the infection rate is 1 to 2 cases per 1 million contact lens wearers in the U.S.  

Expert advice: Make taking out your contacts part of your shower routine. In the morning, wait to put your contacts in until after you’re done showering.

Clean your contact lens case with saline solution, not tap water

Microbes, including Acanthamoeba, can also contaminate your contact lenses through your case if you clean it with tap water and don’t dry it before putting your lenses in. Another no-no? Reusing contact lens fluid. Yes, that includes topping off last night’s fluid with a squeeze from the bottle. That gives germs a much better chance at surviving and getting onto your lenses.  

Expert advice: When you put your contact lenses in, dump out the old fluid, rinse your case out with new saline solution and let it dry. Then it will be ready to store your contact lenses later.  

And, once again, daily contact lenses eliminate these risks altogether.  

“I think daily contacts are the best because you don’t have to rinse your contact lens and you don’t have to store them,” says Nguyen. “If there’s contamination in your contact lens, you likely will not have to touch it again after throwing it out.”  

Be careful while swimming with contacts  

Other places full of germs? Ocean, lakes, pools and, of course, water parks. Swimming in these bodies of water with your contact lenses increases the chances of Acanthamoeba and other pathogens infecting your cornea. Water parks can be especially dangerous — Nguyen has had patients with bad infections just from getting splashed on a ride that goes through water.

Expert advice: The simplest way to avoid an eye infection while swimming? Keep your head above water, if you’re just wading in to cool off. If that’s not an option, look into prescription goggles or, if you have daily contact lenses, take them off as soon as you get out of the water — or you’re done with that ride — and put a fresh pair in.  

What should you do if you think your eye is infected?

Even if you do all of the above, it’s impossible to eliminate the risk of an eye infection. Here are some signs to look for: 

• Eye irritation or pain
• Eye redness
• A white spot on your cornea
• Bad discharge from your eye
• Swelling
• Blurry vision
• Itching, burning and tearing up  

“As soon as you feel like something is going wrong with the eye, seek care right away,” says Nguyen.  

Delaying treatment for an eye infection can mean the difference between keeping or losing your vision — Nguyen has had patients who, unfortunately, experienced the latter after delaying going to the eye doctor.  

One other tip? If you wear contacts in both eyes, make sure your doctor checks them both since whatever got on one lens could have also contaminated the other.  

While contact lens hygiene can be a bit of a pain, a little bit of effort can prevent a world of pain for your eyes.