How to Moisten Contacts

If you fell asleep while wearing your contacts, if you wore them for an extended period of time or live in a dry climate, you likely have to deal with the issue of dry contact lenses. Dry contact lenses can cause redness, pain and itching of the eye. It is easy, however, to make your eyes feel better simply by moistening your contact lenses. Follow these steps to learn how to do it.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Rinse the contact lens off with the saline solution that you use for your daily contact lens cleaning. Remove the dry contact lens from your eye and rinse it off with a steady stream of saline solution. Put the freshly moistened contact lens back into your eye.
2. Place a few drops of saline solution directly in the eye with the dry contact lens. Simply tilt your head back, hold your eye open and drop several drops of saline solution into your eye directly from the saline solution bottle.
3. Instill eye drops in your eyes. Use over the counter eye drops formulated specifically for contact lens wearers. You can also ask your eye doctor for a recommendation.

Tips & Warnings

• Always use clean hands when handling your contact lenses.
• If your contacts continually feel dry or painful and the above remedies don't provide you any relief, contact your own personal eye doctor.
• If you have trouble putting eye drops or saline solution directly into your eyes, ask a friend or family member for assistance.
• Avoid using homemade saline solutions to moisten or clean your contact lenses.
• Never moisten your contacts with plain water or with saliva. Doing so can introduce bacteria or other impurities into your contact lenses, which can cause eye infections.