The rules that prevent almost everything
Most contact lens complications are not bad luck. They come from a short list of habits, and the list is the same whether you wear daily disposables or custom sclerals.
- Water never touches a lens, a case, or your hands immediately before handling. Not tap, bottled, filtered, shower, pool or sea water.
- Wash and dry your hands with soap and a lint-free towel before every handling, every time.
- Rub and rinse with the solution you were prescribed, even when the bottle says no-rub.
- Never top up old solution. Empty the case, rinse it with solution, stand it upside down to dry.
- Replace the case on schedule, not when it looks dirty.
- Keep to the replacement interval for the lenses themselves.
- Never sleep in a lens unless it was prescribed for overnight wear.
- Never reuse, share or borrow a lens, and never moisten one with saliva.
- Attend your reviews even when everything feels fine.
The daily routine, step by step
Taking lenses out
- Wash and dry your hands. Avoid soaps with moisturisers or heavy fragrance, which leave residue.
- Work over a closed drain with a towel laid down, so a dropped lens is recoverable.
- Always start with the same eye — this is the simplest way to avoid mixing left and right, which matters enormously in specialty lenses where the two are often very different.
- If your eyes feel dry, use a rewetting drop approved for your lens type first. A dry lens grips the eye and is harder to remove.
Soft lenses: look up, draw the lower lid down with your middle finger, slide the lens down onto the white of the eye with your index finger, then pinch it gently between finger and thumb. Pinching the lens while it is still on the cornea is what causes most scratches.
Corneal rigid lenses: either widen the lids and blink firmly so the lens pops out into your waiting hand, or use a small plunger if your fitter gave you one.
Hybrid lenses: break the seal gently first — most designs are removed by pulling the lower skirt away from the eye rather than pinching the centre. Follow the method your fitter taught you; pinching a hybrid hard is how the junction between materials gets damaged.
Scleral lenses: use the plunger on the lower portion of the lens, not the centre, and tilt rather than pull straight out. Pulling straight creates suction.
Cleaning and storing
- Place the lens in your palm and apply a few drops of your cleaning solution.
- Rub gently with a fingertip for the time your fitter specified, usually around twenty seconds per side.
- Rinse thoroughly with solution — never water.
- Put the lens in a clean case with fresh solution, filled enough that the lens is fully covered.
- Empty, rinse and air-dry the case face down on a tissue while you are wearing the lenses.
Putting lenses in
- Wash and dry your hands.
- Inspect the lens for tears, chips, deposits or a damaged edge. On a hybrid, look specifically at the junction between the rigid centre and the soft skirt.
- Rinse with the solution your fitter specified before insertion if directed — some disinfecting solutions must be rinsed off and some must not.
- Check a soft lens is not inside out — held on a fingertip it should make a clean bowl shape, not a lip that flares outward.
Solution types, and why it matters which you use
| Type | How it works | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Multipurpose | Cleans, rinses, disinfects and stores in one bottle | Convenient. Still rub and rinse |
| Hydrogen peroxide | Disinfects powerfully, then neutralises in its own case | Must neutralise fully in the dedicated case before the lens goes near your eye |
| Rigid lens systems | Separate cleaner, conditioner and sometimes a protein remover | Some cleaners are abrasive and are for rigid surfaces only |
| Preservative-free saline | Rinsing and filling only — it does not disinfect | The only thing that goes inside a scleral lens |
Extra steps for specialty lenses
Rigid gas permeable. Deposits build up over a long lens life, so periodic protein removal may be prescribed. Never use an abrasive cleaner on a lens with any soft component. Keep the lens wet — a GP lens allowed to dry out can warp.
Hybrid. Two materials, two sets of needs. Handle the junction carefully, avoid pinching, and keep to the replacement schedule even if the lens still feels fine.
Scleral. Fill only with preservative-free sterile saline — never multipurpose solution, never tap water. Insert over a mirror on a flat surface, filling the bowl until it is slightly domed so a bubble cannot get in. Clean and disinfect with the system your fitter specified after removal.
Ortho-k. Worn overnight, so hygiene discipline matters more here than anywhere else. Follow the routine exactly, and do not wear the lenses if your eye is red or you are unwell with an eye infection.
Bandage lenses. Not your responsibility — these stay in until the clinician removes them, and there is no home cleaning routine. If one falls out, do not reinsert it; call the person managing your eye.
When to stop wearing the lens and call
Remove the lens, leave it out, and contact your eye doctor the same day if you have:
- Pain, rather than mild discomfort
- A red eye that is not settling
- Light sensitivity that is new or getting worse
- Discharge, or your eyelids stuck together on waking
- A drop in vision that does not recover after removing, cleaning and reinserting
- A white or grey spot visible on the cornea
Do not “give it until morning”. In specialty lens wear, and particularly with overnight lenses, early assessment is what keeps a treatable problem treatable.
Habits that quietly cause problems
- Topping up solution instead of replacing it
- Keeping a case for a year because it still looks clean
- Rinsing a case under the tap
- Showering or swimming in lenses without your fitter’s approval
- Stretching a monthly lens to six weeks
- Using someone else’s solution because yours ran out
- Putting a lens back in after it fell on the floor, with a quick rinse
- Skipping a review because nothing feels wrong