Can You Wear Contact Lenses After an Eye Injury?

The human eye is an extremely delicate organ. Following an injury of the eye, special precautions must be taken to ensure that there is no permanent damage to your vision. If you have suffered a recent eye injury it is very important that you stop wearing contacts and schedule an appointment with your ophthalmologist or general practitioner as soon as possible to have the eye examined.

Dealing with an Eye Injury

• Depending on the type and severity of the eye injury, different courses of action may be necessary. Regardless of the type of injury, you should check with your ophthalmologist regarding the best treatment method. The doctor will need to examine the eye for any damage to the retina, cornea or optical nerve. If a foreign body entered the eye, you will likely need to use antibiotic eye drops for a period of time.

Safe Contact Use

• If you are prescribed eye drops it is important that you refrain from using contacts until at least 24 hours after the final administration of the drops. Furthermore, you should not use your contacts until your eye injury has completely healed. Not only can contacts slow the rate of healing, they can trap foreign objects against the eye and lead to infection.

  If you depend on your contacts to perform daily tasks, be sure to have a pair of glasses in the correct prescription available. If you do not have a functional pair of glasses, arrange with your optician to have a pair ordered. You may need to have the injured eye behind a patch during the healing process, so be sure to accommodate for this fact when placing your order.