Can Contacts Cause Bacteria to Grow in the Eye?

Contacts lenses may cause bacteria to grow in the eye, according to a recent study. The lenses can change the community of bacteria living in your eyes. Results of the study, conducted by NYU Langone, point to contact lenses as causing an increase in bacteria and certain types of infections.

"Our research clearly shows that putting a foreign object, such as a contact lens, on the eye is not a neutral act," says senior study investigator and NYU Langone microbiologist Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello, PhD.

"What we hope our future experiments will show is whether these changes in the eye microbiome of lens wearers are due to fingers touching the eye, or from the lens's direct pressure affecting and altering the immune system in the eye and what bacteria are suppressed or are allowed to thrive," says Dominguez-Bello, an associate professor at NYU Langone.

Study results showed that people who wore contact lenses had triple the proportion of certain bacteria species, on average, compared with the people in the study who did not wear lenses.  Researchers also found differences in the composition of the bacteria appearing on the surface of people’s eyes. 


If you’re concerned about prolonged used of contact lenses and the bacteria they may be causing in your eye, contact  Charleston Cornea & Refractive Surgery in Charleston, South Carolina, to schedule a LASIK consultation to see if you are a candidate to get rid of your lenses for good!