Remove contact lenses before showering, swimming or using a hot tub. Closing your eyes or turning your face away is not a reliable way to keep water away from lenses. The CDC’s water-safety guidance applies to tap water as well as pools, lakes and other water sources.
Why water and contact lenses do not mix
Water is not a contact lens disinfectant. It can contain organisms, including Acanthamoeba, that can cause serious eye infection. Water can also make soft lenses change shape and stick to the eye. A splash does not mean an infection will occur, but it is not a reason to treat water exposure as harmless.
Keeping your eyes closed does not change the recommendation: remove lenses before the shower. Do not rinse lenses or their case in tap water, bottled water or pool water.
Can you swim with contacts and goggles?
Remove contacts before swimming, including in a pool, the sea or a lake. Goggles over contact lenses do not guarantee that water cannot reach them. The CDC suggests prescription swimming goggles as an option for seeing in the water without wearing contacts.
Arrange a suitable alternative with your eye care professional if you need vision correction for water activities. Contact lenses are not made safer for swimming simply by being daily disposables; a fresh replacement does not prevent exposure while the lens is on the eye.
Hot tubs and baths
Take lenses out before a hot tub or another activity likely to put water in your eyes. Hot or chlorinated water is not a lens-care solution. Avoid storing a case where it is likely to be splashed, and use the prescribed care products rather than water when handling the lenses afterwards.
What if you accidentally showered or swam in contacts?
With clean, dry hands, remove the lenses as soon as possible. The CDC advises discarding water-exposed lenses or cleaning and disinfecting them overnight before wearing them again.
- Daily disposable lenses: discard them; do not save them for another wear.
- Reusable lenses: follow the prescribed product’s full cleaning and overnight disinfection procedure, or discard them. A brief rinse is not sufficient. A peroxide system needs its supplied case and complete neutralization.
- Symptoms: do not reinsert lenses into an irritated eye. Contact an eye care professional promptly for pain, redness, light sensitivity or blurred vision.
ACUVUE’s water-exposure guidance also advises daily-lens disposal and consultation with an eye doctor. If a lens does not come out normally, do not force removal; seek professional help.
For the difference between cleaning, disinfection and storage, see how often to change lens solution.
