Can you wear someone else's contacts?

Maybe you're out of contact lenses. Maybe you left yours at home. Maybe a lens fell out at work, but your friend has a spare and asks if you'd like to borrow it. Can I wear someone else's contact lenses? Short answer: no. But the reasons why are interesting.

The risks (no rewards) of wearing someone else's contacts

Wearing another person's contact lenses isn't a good idea. Apart from the infection risk and the allergies, it also creates more work to clean and sanitize them (this goes beyond simple eye drops) if you insist on wearing contacts that weren't prescribed for you. 

Introduction to the risks

Let's start with the gross part first (then we'll move on, we promise). Sharing contacts with another person is like sharing a toothbrush. It's like senior prom for bacteria, which can blossom into an infection called conjunctivitis. Think pink eye and other fun stuff that makes you more popular.

Sharing contact lenses can also increase your risk of allergies. This is kind of true for anything that involves touching your sensitive eyes with a foreign object, so it's generally a good idea to limit the foreign objects altogether. Other people's eye boogers definitely count as foreign objects, which should honestly be reason enough to keep them out of your eyes.

Considerations for astigmatism and contact lenses

If you have astigmatism (which sounds more like a superpower than an eye condition), you're probably familiar with the struggle of finding the right contacts. Borrowing someone else's contacts when you have astigmatism is like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole (spoiler: this doesn't work).

What is astigmatism?

Astigmatism means your eye is shaped more like a football than a basketball, so regular contacts don't fit properly. Instead, you might need toric lenses that are thicker in certain places. Like people, contacts have their own beautiful personalities. Only a licensed eye care professional can write a prescription for you if you have astigmatism, so sharing with people who don't have your exact prescription is ill-advised and can cause problems.

Safety concerns

Is it safe for someone with astigmatism to wear regular-shaped contact lenses? Getting the right contacts for astigmatism is like finding the perfect pair of jeans; they only really fit you the right way, and they make other people's thighs look weird. Wearing someone else's contacts doesn't correct your astigmatism, which means you could make things worse by squinting and straining to see. Plus, you're missing out on the chance to make astigmatism jokes all day - trust us, they're a big hit at parties.

Avoid discomfort and vision issues

Never wear high heels to a marathon. Sure, it looks good at first, but you won't win the race, and your feet will hurt the next day and the day after that, and the day after that. Wearing someone else's contact lenses has a similar effect, and the discomfort it causes can make you regret it later. 

First, if you have astigmatism, the non-standard (we prefer the term special) shape of your eyes makes regular contact lenses pinch and press in some places, while they're probably too loose in others. Second, wearing the wrong prescription might actually make your vision worse, which you might recognize as being the opposite of what contact lenses are supposed to do for you.

That degradation can get worse over time. If you have a progressive eye or vision condition, such as astigmatism, macular degeneration, or other alarmingly named disorders, the straining that's causing you headaches today can also encourage a long-term worsening of your underlying vision problem. Not only does this make you the person who takes twice as long to order brunch because you can't read the menu, but it could wind up being more challenging to treat and leave you with worse vision for life. 

Can I wear someone else's contact lenses?

Sharing is not caring when it comes to contact lenses. You probably have your own prescription, which your friend almost certainly doesn't share. Wearing someone else's contacts feels bad, gets germs in your eyes, and is overall just gross to do. If you're ever worried you might come up short on contacts, a much better alternative is just to order a fresh supply of daily disposable lenses online, so you'll never get caught without and always have the spares you need - just not for sharing with other people because this works both ways.

FAQs

Can I borrow someone's contacts in an emergency?

As a rule, no. But some no's are worse than others. Never wear another person's used contacts, because, ick. Unused lenses might not be so bad if they're sterile, but they have to be in your prescription. You're really better off just packing extras of your own contacts

Can regular-shaped contacts correct astigmatism temporarily?

Not really. People with astigmatism generally need specialized lenses.

How can I safely share contacts in specific situations?

You just might be able to share if and only if the lenses are sterile, they're in your prescription, and you never give them back after using them.