If you’re a contact lens wearer, you can probably admit that there have been times when you’ve broken the cardinal rules on properly caring for them. This could be sleeping in them, reusing them when you’re not supposed to and in some cases, using them past their expiration date. I know I’ve done the latter and it wasn’t worth the harm it was causing my eyes. You may think you’re saving money or reusing them out of laziness, but this may be riskier behavior than you realize.
To determine if your contact lenses are expired, you need to look at the month and year printed on the box. For example, if it reads 06/23 on the box that means the contacts are OK to use until the end of June 2023. Using it any month beyond that can put your eyes at risk of infection or worse.
Signs your eyes are responding negatively to expired contacts include initial burning, stinging and redness. “You should immediately remove the contacts and use preservative-free artificial tears if this happens,” said Dr. Yuna Rapoport, an ophthalmologist at Manhattan Eye. We spoke to her to discuss the side effects of using expired contact lenses and why you shouldn’t hold onto them.
Infections are a bigger risk
If you have expired contacts laying around, one of the things you may not be aware of is that even though they’re sealed, the solution may no longer be good. There is a higher health risk to using expired contacts or repurposing dailies that are designed to be discarded after a single use.
Expired solution in contact lenses can harbor bacteria and fungus, which can put you at risk for infections like bacterial keratitis. This infection affects your cornea and can result in eye redness, sensitivity to light, pain and blurred vision, to name a few symptoms.
“The cornea gets its nutrients from the oxygen in front of it, so if the infection is small and in the periphery it may not cause permanent damage,” Rapoport explained. However, she points out that it’s more serious if it is a central infection. “This can scar, lead to irregular astigmatism and poor vision, and if it’s bad enough, a patient may have permanent vision loss or need a corneal transplant,” she warned.
