Putting in your contacts should be a pretty seamless process: You wash and dry your hands, fish your lenses out of their package or their storage case, put them into your eyes, then embrace sparklingly clear vision. But sometimes putting in your contacts causes an intense burning sensation. What’s up with that?
The outermost layer of your cornea (the clear, dome-shaped surface of your eye) is called the epithelium, according to the National Eye Institute (NEI). It’s filled with thousands of nerve endings, which is why your eyes can be more sensitive than that iconic “I just have a lot of feelings” character in Mean Girls. So, it’s normal for you to experience a bit of a sensation, even a slightly uncomfortable one, right as you put in your contacts, Alisha Fleming, O.D., an optometrist at Penn Medicine, tells SELF. “Anything more severe isn’t ideal,” she says. That includes a searing flash of pain. Here are seven things that might cause burning when you insert your contacts.
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This is one of the biggest causes of burning after inserting a contact lens, Dr. Fleming says: An eyelash, dust, lint, or even flecks of makeup could be stuck on your lens and bothering you.
If you feel any burning (or other irritation) when you put in a contact, you should take out the lens immediately, Vivian Shibayama, O.D., an optometrist and contact lens specialist with UCLA Health, tells SELF. Then inspect it. “If there is obviously something stuck to the lens surface or if there is a tear in the lens, throw it away,” Jennifer Fogt, O.D., fellow of the American Academy of Optometry and an associate professor in the College of Optometry at The Ohio State University, tells SELF. If you can’t see anything amiss, you can rinse it with saline solution and try again. If it still burns, it’s time to trash that lens, Dr. Fogt says.
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So, you washed your hands before you put in your lenses? Excellent! Except…when you don’t wash off all the soap and end up burning your eyeballs.
It’s not just soap you have to worry about, Dr. Fogt says: “Hand sanitizer really stings if you’ve used it recently and then applied a contact lens to your eye.” And if you didn’t clean your hands before you put in your contacts, something like lotion could still be on your fingers and make your eyes sizzle a bit. Bottom line: Be sure to thoroughly wash and dry your hands before attempting to put in your lenses.
Ocular allergies (also called allergic conjunctivitis) can cause issues like burning, itching, and eye pain, according to the American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI). “If you add a contact lens to an eye with allergy symptoms, it can make the symptoms even worse,” Dr. Fogt says. On the flip side, addressing your allergies can make wearing contacts more comfortable.
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Category: WHY
