Hubble Contacts Review: The One the FTC Caught Changing Prescriptions
Hubble paid $3.5 million after the FTC found it substituted its own lenses for the ones patients were prescribed. An optometrist-reviewed look at what happened and whether it has changed.
Dr. Teresita Bollar, OD
Best contact lens solution for sensitive eyes: Safe, comfortable options
If your contact lenses leave your eyes feeling red, dry, or just plain irritated, you’re not alone. It's a common complaint, and a lot of people mistakenly blame their lenses. But often, the real culprit is hiding in plain sight: your contact lens solution. For those of us with sensitive eyes, the chemicals and preservatives…
Contact Lenses and Water: The Real Risks
Water and contact lenses do not mix, and the reason has a name: Acanthamoeba. It is a microscopic organism that lives in tap water, swimming pools, lakes, hot tubs and shower heads. It is harmless to almost everyone — unless it gets trapped between a contact lens and your cornea. Why this one organism drives…
Can You Shower With Contacts? An Eye Doctor Explains
I get this question all the time from my patients: "Is it really that big of a deal if I shower with my contacts in?" My answer is always a direct and unequivocal no. It might seem like a harmless shortcut, but it's one of the biggest risks you can take with your eye health….
Can You Rehydrate a Dried-Out Contact Lens?
You can soften it. You cannot restore it. A soft lens that has dried out can be made to look and feel normal again after a few hours in solution — which is exactly what makes this dangerous, because the things that changed are not the things you can see. What drying does to the…
How to Insert Contact Lenses
The hard part is not the technique, it is your blink reflex. Everyone’s eye fights back at first. It stops within a few days, and the people who give up almost always give up in week one rather than because lenses do not suit them. Before you touch your eye Wash your hands with plain…
The Contact Lens Case: The Part Nobody Replaces
The case is the most common source of contamination in contact lens wearers. It is also the only piece of equipment most people treat as permanent — despite costing about three dollars and usually coming free with the solution. Why it matters A biofilm forms inside the case: bacteria that adhere to the plastic and…
Contact Lens Solutions: Saline, Multipurpose and Peroxide Compared
Saline does not disinfect. It never has. It rinses, it stores briefly, and that is the whole of it. Mistaking saline for a disinfecting solution is the most common and most dangerous error in lens care, and it is easy to make because the bottles sit side by side on the same shelf. What each…
How to Remove Contact Lenses Safely
If a lens will not come out, it is dry — not stuck. Almost every removal problem is solved by a few drops and thirty seconds of patience, and almost every removal injury comes from skipping that and pulling harder. Before you start Wash and dry your hands on a lint-free towel Short nails, or…
Can You Sleep in Contact Lenses?
No, unless your lenses were specifically prescribed for it — and even then it carries real risk. Sleeping in contacts raises the chance of a sight-threatening corneal infection several times over, and that holds for lenses the FDA has approved for overnight wear. What happens when the eye closes Three things, all working against you:…