“A contact generally needs to stay hydrated, and it gets that hydration from the tear layer of the eye,” says Steve Menzel, OD, optometrist at Clarkson Eyecare in St. Louis, Missouri. “If an eye cannot provide what the contact needs, it will feel dry on the eye.”
There are plenty of eye drops formulated to be used by contact lens wearers, and the right ones can relieve your eyes from many discomforts and allow you to wear your contacts all day long. But when you’re shopping for eye drops for contacts—whether at the drug store or where you buy your contacts online—ensure that the drops you’re buying are easy to use and are specifically made for contacts. We researched dozens of eye drops for contacts and evaluated them for key ingredients, dosage, usage, and price.
Here are the best eye drops for contacts on the market today.
These drops should be added to the contact lens before insertion. You can use a single drop inside each contact before you insert your contacts as normal, but once they’re in, you’ll have relief for hours. Because they’re so popular, however, they tend to be out of stock frequently—which may be important to note if you plan on regularly using these drops.
Price at time of publication: $8
On top of being affordable, we love that these drops can be used while your lenses are inserted and that they’re comfortable for rigid gas permeable (RGP) lenses as well as soft lenses.
Price at time of publication: $7
One caveat, though: No matter what brand of allergy eye drops you choose, including Zaditor, you can’t apply the drops while your contacts are inserted.
“If you are using medicated eye drops, especially for allergies, it is really important that the medicated eye drops go into the eye well before contact lens wear,” explains NYU Langone optometrist Brieann K. Adair, OD, who adds that you should wait at least 10 minutes after the drops are used before putting the contact lens in the eye. “This allows your medication to have the maximum amount of time to be absorbed and work on your eye, and also keeps the contact lenses in good condition.”
Price at time of publication: $13
What we like about these Lumify drops is that they rely on brimonidine, not pseudoephedrine, to relieve redness, eliminating the concerns over rebound effects. Now, because they are still a medicated eye drop, you shouldn’t use them while your contacts are inserted; just like drops for allergies, you’ll need to wait at least 10 minutes after applying the drops to put in your lenses.
Price at time of publication: $21
“Contact lenses, though safe, are still a foreign object that is sitting on the surface of the eye, particularly within the tear film,” says Dr. Adair. “Because they’re soft, contact lenses can absorb and pull moisture from the surface of the eye.”
The preservative-free lubricating drops by TheraTears work with your eye’s natural anatomy, using an electrolyte formula that mimics the same electrolytes found in your tears. It re-balances your eye’s hydration levels, providing long-lasting moisturization and removing irritants that contribute to dry eye symptoms. The omega-3 formula also promotes healthy tear production, meaning these drops don’t just rewet your eyes for you—they help your eye do it itself.
Price at time of publication: $19
These drops work in two ways: by covering the surface of the lens with hydration to reduce irritating friction between your lens and your eye, and by removing debris and build-up on the lenses that can contribute to dryness. They also help restore the natural tear layer, which means you may be able to wear them for longer when using these drops than without.
Price at time of publication: $10
Price at time of publication: $8
Once we narrowed down our options, we compared each eye drop’s benefits to its price tag. While some choices on our list may be more expensive than others, we wanted to give a wide range of options for buyers that would fit all needs and budgets. Based on all of these factors, we compiled this list of the best eye drops for contacts.
What to Look for in Eye Drops for Contacts
Contact-Specific
Not all over-the-counter eye drops work for contacts, and the wrong kinds can interfere with your vision. “Eye drops that aren’t meant for contact lenses can temporarily alter how a lens fits your eye or discolor the lens,” Lenscrafters optometrist Trang Ha, OD warns.
And that’s the best-case scenario; putting incompatible drops into your eyes can even damage your eye.
“Any drop you place in your eye while your contact is in will absorb into the material of the contact lens,” explains Dr. Menzel. “This absorption will increase the concentration of the drop and overall exposure over time to the eye’s surface, [which] can cause adverse effects to the cornea tissue.”
This is why you have to be especially careful when choosing a contact-friendly eye drop; they’re designed to be diluted by your tears, Dr. Menzel adds, not to sit for a prolonged time in the material of a contact. Doing so can affect your lenses and your sight.
Ingredients
When it comes to the ingredient listing on the back of the box, there are some things you should try to avoid if you’re a contact-wearer—namely preservatives. Eye drops made to be safe for use with contacts should not include preservatives like BAK, or benzalkonium chloride, which can cause damage to the conjunctival and corneal cells in your eye, especially with chronic use.
“Preservatives can cause irritation to the eye, but can also impact or degrade the contact lenses,” says Dr. Adair. “In order to keep your contact lenses in the best condition possible, we recommend using a preservative-free formula or formula that’s made specifically for contact lenses.”
If you’re going preservative-free, you can opt for liquid-based drops. These usually contain ingredients like:
Castor oilGlycerinHydroxypropyl-guarMineral oil
If you’re unsure about the ingredients in your eye drops, talk to an optometrist about a solution that will work best for you.
Ease of Use
If you can’t simply squeeze a few drops into a dry eye when you’re sitting at your desk or at home watching TV, you might be less likely to use them. That can be a real problem since regular use of contact-safe eye drops can be an important part of your overall eye care.
“It’s important to maintain a consistent and healthy eye regimen that can include using artificial tears,” says Dr. Adair, “to keep the front surface of the eye lubricated, in good condition, and to make sure the contact lenses are not impacting your overall health and comfort.”
If you need to use eye drops that can’t be applied while your contacts are in, like the Zaditor drops listed here, that’s fine—those drops are often only used once or twice per day, max. But drops you may want to use more frequently, like rewetting drops and artificial tears, should take no more than a few seconds to apply in a pinch.
Hard vs. Soft Contacts
Finally, take into consideration the kind of lenses you wear. There are eye drops made for hard and soft lenses; each of these performs a slightly different function, so make sure to find an eye drop that specifically suits your contact lenses.
“If the eye drops are going in before or after contact lens wear, generally any drops are safe to use,” says Dr. Adair. “But if you are wearing a specialty type of contact lens, such as hard lenses or scleral lenses, you should be using drops that are made specifically for them or the drops recommended by your doctor.”
In other words, some lenses and drops don’t play well together, and it’s important to consider what type of lenses you wear and what your eye drop needs are before choosing a product.
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Instead, use the drops before you put your contacts in for the day, and again when you take them out.
But some lubricating agents can shorten the life of lenses, so look for contact-specific lubricating drops or limit the use of artificial tears to before and after contact lens wear.
