Are contact lenses safe?
Contact lenses are safe for most people when they are fitted properly, worn as instructed and cleaned correctly. The risks come almost entirely from overnight wear, water contact and poor hygiene.
- Subject
- Glasses & contacts
- Topic
- Contact lenses
- Kind of question
- Other questions
- Procedures
- Contact lenses
- Last reviewed
- 22 September 2026
In more detail
That is why the advice is unusually specific compared with most things here: no sleeping in lenses unless they are designed and prescribed for it, no tap water, and replace them when they are due to be replaced.
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Where this answer sits
It is one of 483 answers in the vision and eye health knowledge base, filed under Glasses & contact lenses in Contact lenses . The subject page carries the answers either side of it, and the hub is searchable.
Subjects this question touches
The pages that answer the subject behind the question, rather than the question itself.
- Non-surgical option Contact lenses
- Non-surgical option Glasses
- Comparison Glasses vs contact lenses
This information is for educational purposes and does not replace an examination by a qualified eye-care professional.
General answers cannot tell you what is happening in your own eyes. Only an examination by a qualified ophthalmologist can do that.
Sources & further reading
We prefer primary sources. Where a claim comes from a manufacturer, a single study or a regulator, it is labelled as such below.
- EyeSmart: eye health information for the public
Patient-facing material from the largest ophthalmology professional body, covering conditions, tests and treatments outside refractive surgery.
Used for Cross-checking patient-facing explanations of non-refractive eye conditions; Describing what tests such as dilation and OCT involve.
Link checked 23 September 2026