# Can I still rescue my dried up contact lenses? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 18, 2000, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-still-rescue-my-dried-up-contact-lenses/33608 "2000-09-18T15:38:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![theuglytruth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@theuglytruth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theuglytruth)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2000, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-still-rescue-my-dried-up-contact-lenses/33608/1 "2000-09-18T15:38:27Z")
Last week in an inebriated state I accidentally put my soft daily wear contact lenses in a cup with saline solution but forgot to put on the lid. A week later I now have these two dried up pieces of plastic. I doused them in Saline. Will they come back to life? How long should I soak them? I think this is doable. Back in college I lost one of my lenses. Then one night, 2 months later I was drinking a beer when I felt this weird plastic thing between my teeth. It was my lens! I soakied it in AOSept, and put it in my eye a day later. It was as good as new! Another time I was cleaning al ens when it flew out of my hand. 3 days later I found it sticking to my wall! Again . .soaked it, it was good a day later. So I’m holding out hope for these babies but any suggestions Dopers? ---
**Author:** ![magdalene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@magdalene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magdalene)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2000, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-still-rescue-my-dried-up-contact-lenses/33608/2 "2000-09-18T15:43:09Z")
You CAN revive soft contact lenses that have dried up over night - just soak 'em in saline until they soften up again, usually overnight does it. But are you sure you want to? You should probably think about a minimum 24-hour statute of limitations on those babies. Do you really want to pull something out of the couch cushions after two months and put it in one of the most sensitive & infection-prone places in your body? ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2000, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-still-rescue-my-dried-up-contact-lenses/33608/3 "2000-09-18T15:58:30Z")
Every contact lens professional I have asked has told me once they dry they _cannot_ be used again and they all go into a very complicated technical explanation. Having said that I will also say that I have done it and the lenses seemed OK to me. I have also washed them with shampoo when I was out of cleaning liquid. I never asked about this practice because I figure they’d think I was an idiot for asking. ---
**Author:** ![ShelliBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ShelliBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShelliBean)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2000, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-still-rescue-my-dried-up-contact-lenses/33608/4 "2000-09-18T16:24:57Z")
I have spent more time in the opthamologist’s (sp?) office than my regular MD’s. I would strongly suggest not putting those things back in your eyes. Even though they will soften back up, they may have little scratches on the surface that will irritate your eyes. If you are still going to put them back in, check them well, clean them more than you think you ought to, and take them out as soon as they start to hurt. I did this once and ended up with a corneal ulcer. The Dr. took my contacts away and wouldn’t let me have any for a month! ---
**Author:** ![zwaldd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a9adbd/32.png) [@zwaldd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zwaldd)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2000, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-still-rescue-my-dried-up-contact-lenses/33608/5 "2000-09-18T16:37:38Z")
> [@](#): > > . Back in college I lost one of my lenses. Then one night, 2 months later I was drinking a beer when I felt this weird plastic thing between my teeth. It was my lens! whaaaat?! you lost your lens and it turned up between your teeth?! ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2000, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-still-rescue-my-dried-up-contact-lenses/33608/6 "2000-09-18T16:59:16Z")
I accidentally pushed one of my contacts _way_ into my eye socket. It was my first week with contacts, and out of habit I rubbed my eyes real hard. Then I noticed that my right eye’s view was really blurry. I figured that I popped it out, but I couldn’t find it anywhere near where I was sitting. Bummed out, I took out my other and put it in its solution on the hope that I’d be able to find its mate. Just after I closed the cap on its container, I sneezed. Whatever pressure was generated on my eyeballs made my right contact squeeze forward enough that I could see and feel it. I just scooted it back in place, and my vision was 20/20 again. ---
**Author:** ![felanie77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f17d59/32.png) [@felanie77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/felanie77)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2017, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-still-rescue-my-dried-up-contact-lenses/33608/7 "2017-07-26T06:12:35Z")
i also got one stuck, way back in the socket, on the top of my eyeball, and it was folded in half! i hadn’t worn contacts in awhile and, i forgot i had them in. like you, i had rubbed the hell out of my eyes. i could feel it in there, it just took forever for me to get it out. i think part of the problem was the state of panic i was in. i had heard about someone getting a lens stuck in the back of their socket and they slept in it, that night, the contact supposedly embedded itself in the person’s brain and they died! i was young and gullible. lol ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2017, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-still-rescue-my-dried-up-contact-lenses/33608/8 "2017-07-26T08:52:58Z")
Just be sure to remove the old one before putting a new one in: > [@](#): > > A 67-year-old woman has had 27 contact lenses removed from one eye. > > The discovery was made after the woman went to Solihull hospital in the West Midlands for routine cataract surgery. > > In a report for the British Medical Journal (BMJ), experts from the hospital said “a bluish foreign body” emerged during the procedure “as a hard mass of 17 contact lenses bound together by mucus”. > > Ten more were found under further examination. > > [Surgeons remove 27 contact lenses from woman’s eye | Health | The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jul/17/surgeons-remove-27-contact-lenses-from-womans-eye) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2017, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-still-rescue-my-dried-up-contact-lenses/33608/9 "2017-07-26T11:25:23Z")
I honestly don’t know if it’s a good idea to rehydrate and re-use soft contact lenses, but I just want to point out that they are manufactured in a non-hydrated state, so they start life “hard” and are only then hydrated and made soft. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2017, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-still-rescue-my-dried-up-contact-lenses/33608/10 "2017-07-26T12:28:47Z")
This thread is 17 years old. Presumably even the OP has replaced his lenses by now.