At the end of a long day, it may be tempting to leave your contacts in your eyes or just plop them into your storage case. But proper cleaning and care are essential when you wear soft contact lenses. After all, you wouldn’t stick a dirty toothbrush in your mouth every morning, would you? The same goes for contact lenses. 

The good news is that a good nightly care routine takes just a few minutes. That, along with following the wear and replacement schedule your doctor recommends, will help keep your eyes healthy and feeling good. Here are our expert-approved tips for cleaning and caring for your lenses.

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How to Clean Your Contact Lenses

1. Wash your hands thoroughly: Using soap and warm water, scrub your hands for 20 seconds — the time it takes to sing “Happy Birthday” or the ABCs twice. Dry them on a clean, lint-free cloth.
2. Prepare your storage case: Fill your case with fresh disinfecting solution. Never reuse old solution or top off already-used solution.
3. Remove the contact lens: Using your thumb and forefinger, carefully pinch the contact to take it out of your eye.
4. Clean the lens: Cup your other hand and carefully place the contact lens in your palm. Add a small amount of cleaning solution to the lens and gently rub it in a circular motion for 15 seconds.
5. Rinse: Rinse the contact lens with fresh cleaning solution.
6. Store: Place the contact lens in your storage case and seal it with the cap.
7. Repeat with the other lens.
8. Leave the contacts in the case to soak overnight. Most cleaning solutions require six to eight hours to disinfect lenses. Follow the directions listed on your specific product.

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How Do I Clean the Storage Case?

Keeping your storage case clean is another important — and quick — component of contact lens care. In the morning, after you put your clean contact lenses in your eyes, follow these steps to clean the storage case.

1. Empty the case: Dump out the cleaning solution. Never reuse cleaning solution.
2. Rinse and shake: Rinse with fresh cleaning solution and shake off any excess.
3. Air dry: Place the case and caps on a clean towel or clean surface to air dry. You may want to place the caps so they partially cover the storage case. This way, dust won’t fall into the case, and all the parts will still get fresh air to dry.

Replace your storage case every three months or sooner if it becomes damaged.

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Do All Contact Lenses Need to Be Cleaned?

Yes. All contact lenses need to be disinfected at some point. The only exception is for daily disposable contacts, which are discarded daily. 

• If you wear weekly, biweekly, or monthly contact lenses, you’ll need to clean your lenses at the end of each day you wear them and store them overnight while you’re sleeping.
  
  
• If you use extended-wear soft contacts, you’ll need to disinfect them at the end of your eye doctor-approved wear period. While extended-wear lenses are approved for overnight use, most eye doctors recommend that you don’t sleep in them. 

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How Long Should Lenses Be Stored?

Most cleaning solutions take about six to eight hours to fully disinfect the lens. Check the label on your cleaning product for more information.

If you store your lenses for longer than a day or two before wearing them, you may need to disinfect them again. Lenses can accumulate buildup if they sit in solution for too long. Check your cleaning solution bottle to see how long you can safely store your lenses.

When in doubt, toss out the old lenses and put in a new, fresh pair.

For more care tips, check out 14 do's and don’ts of contact lens cleaning. Also, learn what kind of cleaning products to use.

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Need to Refresh Your Supply of Contacts? 

Shop our selection of daily, weekly, or monthly soft contacts from top brands like Acuvue, Dailies, Air Optix, and Biofinity.