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Educational content only
This page is general patient education, not medical advice. It does not diagnose conditions, recommend specific treatments for you, or replace a conversation with your eye care provider. Always consult a qualified clinician before making decisions about your eye health.
Most contact lens problems are minor and resolve with rest or a new pair. A few are urgent. Knowing the difference — and not waiting — protects your vision permanently.
What to do
When to act — and exactly how.
Stop wearing
Pain, redness, blur, or light sensitivity
Remove the lens immediately. Don't put it back in. Save it in solution in the case (in case the doctor wants to culture it). Call within hours, not days.
Same-day care
If symptoms are clearly worsening
Same-day appointment with your eye doctor or urgent care. Microbial keratitis worsens hour by hour. Earlier treatment means much better outcomes.
Until you're seen
Lubricating drops, no eye rubbing
Use preservative-free artificial tears. Don't rub the eye (rubbing pushes any infection deeper). Avoid bright sunlight; sunglasses help if light is painful.
Avoid
Steroid drops or old prescription drops
Steroid drops left over from a previous condition can make a corneal infection dramatically worse. Don't self-treat with old drops. Wait to be seen.
This is urgent if
You have eye pain, light sensitivity, vision change, or a white spot on the cornea (visible to others in the mirror). Microbial keratitis from contact lens overwear or contamination causes thousands of preventable cases of permanent vision loss each year. Same-day evaluation matters.
Common questions
Honest answers to common questions.
Is a little redness normal?+
Mild end-of-day redness from contact wear isn't unusual. What's not normal: redness with pain, redness with light sensitivity, redness that doesn't clear in a few hours after removing the lens, or redness in only one eye. Any of those needs evaluation.
I slept in my contacts. Should I be worried?+
Once or twice — likely fine. Habitual sleeping in lenses dramatically raises infection risk. Even daily-wear lenses are higher risk overnight. If you wake up with red, painful, or blurry eyes after sleeping in contacts, remove them and get checked.
My contact tore in my eye. Now what?+
Wash hands. Look up and pull down on the lower lid to find the lens fragment. If you can't find it, blink several times — torn lenses usually find their way out within a few hours. If irritation persists, your eye doctor can check that no pieces remain.
Can I shower with contacts in?+
Best not to. Acanthamoeba (a water-borne microbe) can attach to lenses and cause a devastating, hard-to-treat corneal infection. If contacts get wet in the shower, replace them. Daily disposables make this easy.
What if I'm out of town and need help?+
Most cities have urgent ophthalmology clinics or hospital emergency departments that can see contact lens problems same-day. Tell them you wear contacts and there's eye pain — that gets you triaged appropriately. Don't wait until you're home.