Many of us have been guilty of sleeping with contacts in, not properly washing your hands before inserting them or worse: reusing them day after day and even well past their expiry date. You may think you’re saving money by extending the life of the contacts, but this may be more unhygienic than you realize.
If you aren’t sure if you’re holding onto expired contact lenses, look at the month and year printed on the box or pack. For example, if it reads 06/23 on the box that means the contacts are OK to use until the end of June 2023. If you use it any month later you are putting your eyes at risk of infection or worse.
If you are wearing expired contact lenses, some red flags you should look out for include: initial burning, stinging and redness. “If you experience any of these symptoms, you should immediately remove the contacts and use preservative-free artificial tears,” said Dr. Yuna Rapoport, an ophthalmologist at Manhattan Eye. She discussed with CNET the side effects of using expired contact lenses and why you should throw them out sooner rather than later.
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.
