Do I Need to Clean My Daily Contact Lenses?

If you wear daily contacts, you know that one of the best parts about them is that there's very little maintenance involved. You open a new pair in the morning, wear them for the day, take them out at night, and then throw them away. 

So, Do I Need to Clean My Daily Contacts Before Putting Them In?

No. Daily contact lenses are made to be worn once and then thrown away. You don’t need to clean them before you put them in, and you definitely don’t need to clean them at night and save them for the next day.

Ok, but what if you take one out halfway through the day? What if you drop it? What if your contact suddenly gets blurry or there’s something on it and you really don’t want to waste a brand-new lens?

Here’s what you should know.

Do I Need to Rinse My Daily Contact with Solution Before I Put It In?

No. When you open a new daily contact, it’s already sitting in sterile solution inside the blister pack. You can take it out and put it directly into your eye.

You don’t need to rinse it with contact solution first or do anything special to clean it. You do, however, want to make sure your hands are clean and completely dry before you touch your contacts. 

What If My Daily Contact Gets Dirty?

Let’s say you’re halfway through your day and suddenly your contact feels weird. You take it out and realize there’s a little piece of makeup on it, an eyelash got underneath it, or maybe you dropped it while trying to take it out.

Can you just clean it and put it back in? With daily disposables, it’s better to grab a fresh contact. It can feel incredibly frustrating to throw away a contact you just opened, but dailies are meant to be single-use lenses. 

If you regularly feel like something is on your contacts, or your vision seems to go in and out of focus, there could also be something else going on. Keeping an extra pair of daily contacts with you is a good idea. Throw a couple in your purse, backpack, desk drawer, or wherever you’ll regularly have access to them for replacement emergencies. 

Can I Take My Daily Contacts Out and Put Them Back In?

Daily disposables are designed around one-time use. They’re different from monthly contact lenses, which are specifically made to be cleaned, stored, and worn again according to their prescribed replacement schedule.

So, if you take your contacts out to take a nap, shower, go swimming, or just give your eyes a break, toss them and use a new pair.

Can I Clean My Daily Contacts and Wear Them The Next Day?

No. Even if your contacts still feel completely fine at the end of the day, daily contacts aren't meant to be worn again because you put them in solution overnight.

Once you're done wearing them for the day, throw them away. That applies whether you're wearing a standard spherical daily contact, daily contacts for astigmatism, or daily multifocal lenses.

If throwing away a pair of contacts every single day feels wasteful or you’d rather have contacts you can clean and wear again, talk to your eye doctor about whether a different replacement schedule makes sense for you.

That’s one of the main reasons we created our See It Again upcycling program. Blue Planet Optics customers can send back their used contact lens blister packs and foil, so those materials can be upcycled instead of just going straight into the trash.

Can I Rinse My Daily Contacts with Water?

No. If there’s one thing you really don’t want to use on your contacts, it’s tap water.

It might seem harmless, especially if you’re just giving your contact a quick rinse, but water isn’t sterile. You don’t want to rinse a contact under the faucet and then put it right back onto your eye. Doing this can expose your eyes to microorganisms in the water and, in rare cases, lead to a serious eye infection called Acanthamoeba keratitis.

So, if your daily contact falls into the sink, gets splashed with water, or lands somewhere dirty, don’t rinse it off with water. Throw it out and open a new one right away.

Why Don't Daily Contacts Need to Be Cleaned?

Reusable contacts have to make it through multiple days or weeks of wear, so properly cleaning and storing them becomes a really important part of taking care of them.

Dailies are different. Every morning, you're starting over with a completely new lens.

That's one of the biggest reasons people love them. There’s no nightly cleaning routine.

Open. Wear. Throw away. Repeat.

Are Daily Contacts Better If My Contacts Get Dirty or Uncomfortable?

They can be a really convenient option for people who don't want to deal with cleaning and storing reusable lenses, but there isn't one contact that's best for everybody.

Some people also prefer dailies because they're opening a completely fresh pair every morning instead of wearing the same lenses over and over again.

If comfort is your main concern, you can read our guide to the best contacts for dry eyes or our article on how to make contacts more comfortable.

We also have guides to the best daily contacts for nearsightedness, best daily contacts for farsightedness, and best daily contacts for astigmatism if you're trying to understand some of the different daily options available.

Your eye doctor will ultimately determine which lens is best for your eyes and prescription.

Do I Need Contact Solution If I Wear Daily Contacts?

Not for your normal daily cleaning and storage routine. Since you aren't storing your daily contacts overnight, you don't need contact solution to clean and store them the way you would with reusable contacts.

Traveling with dailies is especially convenient for this reason, too. You can bring however many pairs you need, plus a few extras, just in case a mid-day replacement is needed.

What If My Daily Contacts Always Feel Like They Need to Be Cleaned?

If you're constantly taking your contacts out because they feel dirty, blurry, dry, or like something is stuck underneath them, that's a little different.

Every once in a while? It happens. Every single day? It might be worth mentioning to your eye doctor.

If your contacts tend to feel great in the morning and then get progressively more uncomfortable, you might also want to read about why contacts feel dry at night. Dryness, lens movement, fit, your prescription, and other factors can affect your vision, too. 

There are so many different contact lens brands and styles that sometimes a particular contact just isn't the best match for your eyes.

Shop Daily Contact Lenses

If daily disposables sound like the easiest option for your routine, you can shop daily contact lenses at Blue Planet Optics.

There are daily options available for a bunch of different vision needs, including nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, and presbyopia.

If you have presbyopia, you can also browse our multifocal contact lenses.

Just make sure you're ordering the exact brand and parameters prescribed by your eye doctor.

FAQ

Do daily contacts need to be cleaned?

No. Daily contacts are designed to be worn once and thrown away when you're finished wearing them. There's no nightly cleaning routine.

Should I rinse new daily contacts before putting them in?

You generally don't need to. Daily contacts come sealed in solution and are ready to wear once you open the blister pack. Just make sure your hands are clean and dry before touching them.

Can I clean daily contacts with contact solution?

Daily contacts aren't designed to be cleaned and stored for reuse. If you take one out and need to put contacts back in later, using a fresh lens is the simplest option.

Can I wear daily contacts for two days if I clean them?

No. If they're daily disposable contacts, they should be thrown away once you're finished wearing them that day.

Can I rinse a daily contact with water?

No. Don't use tap water to clean or rinse your contacts. If a daily contact gets contaminated or falls somewhere questionable, throw it away and use a new one.

Do I need contact solution with daily contacts?

You generally don't need contact solution for the normal cleaning and overnight storage routine because you're starting with a fresh pair every day.

What happens if my daily contact dries out?

Don't try to rehydrate it and put it back in. Throw it away and use a fresh contact. You can read more about this in our guide to dried-out contact lenses.

Should I carry extra daily contacts with me?

Yes, and you'll probably be very happy you did the first time you need them. If a contact falls out, tears, gets dirty, or randomly starts bothering you, you can toss it and put in a fresh one instead of trying to save it.

Where can I buy daily contact lenses online?

You can shop daily contact lenses online at Blue Planet Optics, along with all contact lenses available at Blue Planet Optics. You'll need a valid contact lens prescription, and you should always order the exact lenses prescribed by your eye doctor. If you're not sure what those are, contact our help desk by using the live chat option on our website, and we can point you to your prescribed lenses.