Serious reaction to contacts?

Question

I'm on monthly contacts. I've had problems with them when I first started with hard contacts (headaches etc). That was sorted out when I got softer contacts. Its been about over a month since I've switched to soft. However I took a days break from them, but the next day when I inserted them I got pain. It was really stinging and I've never had that before, after 30 seconds it went away. But I was really sensitive to light, they stung whenever I blinked, the skin around my eyes was very tender, my eyes was red/pink. I waited for another hour then decided it was too much and took them out. I did the same the next day, same thing happened. I clean them properly, follow the rules, right contact in the right eye. I also tried cleaning them and then reinserting. I called the Opticians who told me not to put them in again. All the symptoms took 12-24 hours to go away. But I want a idea of how serious this is. Any thoughts, experiences etc?

Answer 1

you may just have sensitive eyes..did you try lubricating drops when your eyes were stinging?

also, did you wash your hands before taking your contacts out, you could have had something on your hands and it could've gotten into your eyes...were the contacts damaged(ie a rip or tear causes the same pain, stinging, and red eye)..

i would follow with what your Dr said to do..but also go back.and find out if you can put a new months in, to see if it bothers you again.

Answer 2

Be sure to rinse all cleaning solution thoroughly with saline.  Make sure nothing goes into your eyes but the lenses and saline.

Wash and rinse your hands thoroughly and rinse your fingers a little with saline.  Something is getting into your eyes.  It may be from your fingers.

You could also have scratches on your cornea from rubbing your eyes.  You can't do that with contacts.  If you are in the habit of that, get out of it.

If none of this is the case, you may be allergic to the materials in the lenses.  That is not likely unless you have a lot of other allergies.  I have chronic allergies and I wore contacts for many years.

Answer 3

If you experienced stinging in both eye then you had a reaction to the Solution that you are using.  Switch to some other brand of storage solution.



I'm wondering if you are using one of hydrogen peroxide solutions and you either did not allow the lenses to sit in their container for a minimum of six hours, or if you rinsed the lenses with the solution right out of the bottle.  Both would be extremely uncomfortable and the damage done to the surface of the cornea would cause light sensitivity until it heals - usually by the end of the day provided you did not continue to wear the lenses.