NO! NO! Don’t rinse your eye contacts with tap water and then stick it back in your eye! I am watching a teen jump up and I wonder why…he pulls his contact out of his eye, rinse it at the sink and then sticks it back in his eye. I was speechless…tap water, no matter how clean, still has stuff. One of these ‘stuffs’ is an amoeba, Acanthamoeba, that our gut handles without problems so drinking it is fine BUT putting it in the eye is NOT fine. There have been multiple outbreaks of serious eye infections and each investigation identifies that contact lens wearers and how they clean their lens is the problem. Infection of the eye can cause scarring and this ruins transparency. In addition, infection can cause the loss of the whole eye. Plus, routine eye antibiotic drops do not cure this infection.
If you have severe eye pain, sensitive to light and watery eyes, contact your eye doctor or pediatrician. Tell your doctor if you have used tap water to clean your lens, showered with your lens in place or swam with your contact lens. OR put tap water in your contact lens case.
Follow your eye doctor’s advice strictly. We only have two eyes…and we really like them.
