Contacts During Allergy Season: Managing Itchy Eyes

When allergy season hits, itchy, red, gritty eyes make contacts uncomfortable for many people. Here are tips for managing contacts during this time. If symptoms are tough, don't tough it out — consult an eye doctor or physician.

Why allergy season is hard on contacts

During an allergic reaction, your eye's surface is sensitive. With a contact lens on top, pollen stuck to the lens adds irritation and can worsen the underlying inflammation, making itchiness and redness flare up.

You'll want to rub your eyes, but rubbing with lenses in is a no-go — it can shift the lens or scratch the cornea.

Dailies are a strong ally this season

Daily disposables are especially well-suited to allergy season, because a fresh lens each day means pollen and dirt don't accumulate on it.

Two-week and monthly lenses gradually build up pollen and protein even with cleaning. Many people switch to dailies just for allergy season. Even regular two-week wearers can ease the strain by using dailies during this period.

Be careful with eye drops

If you use allergy eye drops, check whether they can be used over contacts. Drops with preservatives can let ingredients adsorb onto the lens and burden the eye.

The safe basic is to remove the lens, apply drops, wait a while, then put the lens back in. Choose drops explicitly labeled contact-compatible, or ask a pharmacist or eye doctor. For allergy drops, a doctor's prescription is more reassuring than self-judgment.

When to give lenses a rest

When symptoms are strong, it's wise to skip contacts and wear glasses. If your eyes are very red, intensely itchy or painful, or producing a lot of discharge, hold off on lenses.

Glasses also physically block pollen from reaching your eyes, and pollen-blocking glasses help too. Switching wisely between contacts and glasses is the key to getting through the season.

Be extra careful with hygiene

If you keep using two-week or monthly lenses, clean them even more carefully than usual. Thoroughly removing pollen from the lens helps prevent symptoms from worsening.

And always keep the replacement date. Using a pollen-laden lens past its date worsens symptoms. Remind yourself: "especially during a hard season, keep lenses clean."

Build seasonal switching into your tracking

For people who switch lenses by season — like using dailies only during allergy season — keeping track of "which lens, opened when" gets surprisingly complicated.

Lenslog lets you register multiple lenses and calculates each one's replacement date from its opening date. You can manage the remaining count of your seasonal dailies and the replacement date of your everyday two-week lenses on one screen. "Do I still have allergy-season dailies left?" becomes clear at a glance.

Allergy season is a trial for your eyes. Use dailies, apply drops correctly, switch with glasses, and keep up careful hygiene. Don't overdo it, consult a doctor when it's tough, and get through the season.