You are travelling, it is late at night, and you have just realised your contact lens solution bottle is completely empty. The bathroom tap is right there. The water looks clean. It is just one night. What is the worst that could happen?
Quite a lot, actually. Some of it permanent.
Using water with contact lenses is one of the most common and most dangerous habits in lens care. It does not matter whether it is tap water, bottled water, distilled water, or filtered water. None of these are safe substitutes for a proper contact lens cleaning solution. This guide explains exactly why, and what to do instead when you find yourself without solution.
Why Should You Never Use Water With Contact Lenses?
The Invisible Problem in Every Drop
Water looks clean. Tap water in most cities is treated, filtered, and regulated. But sterile it is not. Even the cleanest tap water contains minerals, chlorine, and a range of microorganisms that are harmless when they stay in your gut or on your skin but become genuinely dangerous when introduced to your eye through a contact lens.
Can I use tap water as an emergency contact solution?
No, and this is worth saying as directly as possible. Tap water should never come into contact with your lenses under any circumstances, not for rinsing, not for storage, not even for rinsing the lens case. The risks are not theoretical. They are well-documented and in some cases life-altering.
The most serious threat in tap water is an organism called Acanthamoeba. It is a microscopic amoeba found in tap water supplies, swimming pools, hot tubs, and even some bottled water sources. On its own, it is mostly harmless to healthy people. But when it gets trapped between a contact lens and your cornea, it finds a warm, dark, nutrient-rich environment where it burrows directly into corneal tissue.
The resulting infection, Acanthamoeba keratitis, is extraordinarily painful, notoriously difficult to treat, and can cause permanent corneal scarring that affects vision for life. In severe cases, a corneal transplant is the only option for restoring partial sight. This is not a rare complication of unusually bad luck. It is a documented consequence of a habit millions of people consider harmless.
Distilled and Bottled Water Are Not Safe Either
Is it safe to rinse contact lenses with distilled water?
Many people assume that distilled or bottled water is a safer alternative to tap water because it has been purified. It has not been sterilised. Distillation removes many contaminants but does not eliminate all microorganisms. Bottled water is regulated for drinking safety, not for direct corneal contact through a lens.
Neither option is sterile in the way a purpose-built contact lens cleaning solution is sterile. Neither contains the disinfecting agents, surfactants, or pH buffering that your lenses and eyes actually need. Using either one introduces risk without providing any of the protection a proper solution delivers.
What Happens If You Put Contact Lenses in Water?
Can you get a parasite in your eye from washing contacts with water?
Yes. This is exactly how Acanthamoeba keratitis develops, and it is one of the most serious consequences of water contact with lenses. The amoeba attaches to the lens surface, survives storage, and is then pressed directly against your cornea when you insert the lens the next morning.
Beyond Acanthamoeba, here is what water does to your lenses and your eyes.
Lens Swelling and Warping. Soft contact lenses are designed to maintain a specific water content and shape in a solution that closely matches the tonicity of natural tears. When lenses are placed in water, which has a different osmotic concentration, the lens material absorbs water and swells. This changes the shape of the lens, its fit on your eye, and its optical properties. A warped lens does not sit correctly on your cornea and can cause discomfort, pressure, and blurred vision.
Bacterial Contamination. Tap water carries bacteria including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a particularly aggressive pathogen that can cause rapid and severe corneal infections. Unlike a multipurpose contact lens solution, water provides no disinfecting action whatsoever. Bacteria that land on a lens stored in water are not eliminated. They are given time to multiply.
Corneal Abrasion and Irritation. A warped, contaminated, or poorly fitting lens creates physical friction against the corneal surface during wear. This causes micro-abrasions, tiny scratches on the cornea that serve as entry points for infection. What begins as a slightly uncomfortable lens becomes a pathway for pathogens to access living eye tissue.
What happens if you store contacts in water for one night?
The lens swells and warps, losing its correct shape and fit. Bacteria from the water colonise the lens surface throughout the night with no disinfecting agent present to control them. When you insert the lens in the morning, you are placing a physically distorted, bacterially contaminated surface directly onto your cornea for hours.
If you have already done this, do not insert those lenses. The steps to take are covered shortly.
Why Is Contact Lens Solution Safer?
What a Proper Solution Actually Does
A quality contact lens cleaning solution is a precisely formulated product designed specifically for the chemistry of your eyes and your lenses. It is sterile from the moment it is manufactured and sealed. Its ingredient profile addresses every aspect of lens hygiene that water simply cannot touch.
Disinfecting agents like polyaminopropyl biguanide or polyquaternium compounds actively eliminate bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms from the lens surface. These are not just rinsed off. They are killed. Surfactants break down and remove the protein and lipid deposits your tear film leaves on the lens throughout the day. Conditioning agents like hyaluronic acid hydrate the lens material and maintain comfort. Buffering agents keep the solution at a pH matched to your natural tears, which is why a proper solution feels comfortable on your eye while water can sting.
None of these functions exist in water of any kind. Water is a solvent. A contact lens cleaning solution is a carefully engineered eye care product. They are not in the same category.
Can You Rinse Contact Lenses With Tap Water?
The answer is the same as for storage. No, never.
Rinsing lenses under the tap feels like a minor, low-risk act. You are not soaking them. The contact is brief. But even a few seconds of tap water exposure is enough for Acanthamoeba to attach to the lens surface. The organism is incredibly resilient. It forms cysts when conditions are unfavourable, which are highly resistant to drying, heat, and even many disinfecting agents. Once attached to a lens, it is not easily removed by subsequent solution rinsing.
The same applies to rinsing the lens case with tap water. Many wearers rinse their case under the tap as part of their daily routine without realising this introduces the very organisms their solution is designed to eliminate. Always rinse your case with fresh multipurpose solution, never tap water, and leave it to air dry face down.
What Should You Do If You Accidentally Use Water?
What should I do if I run out of contact solution and only have water?
First and most importantly, do not insert lenses that have been stored in or rinsed with water. Discard them immediately, regardless of how much wear time they have left. The risk of infection from a contaminated lens is not worth any saving on lens cost.
If you have already inserted a lens that was exposed to water and are experiencing discomfort, redness, pain, or sensitivity to light, remove the lens immediately and consult an eye care professional as soon as possible. Do not wait to see if symptoms resolve on their own. Early treatment of Acanthamoeba keratitis significantly improves outcomes. Delayed treatment allows the infection to progress into deeper corneal layers where it is far harder to treat.
If you are genuinely without solution and cannot access any immediately, the safest option is to simply not wear your lenses until you can purchase proper contact lens solution. Wearing your glasses, however inconvenient, is infinitely preferable to the risk of a corneal infection.
Common Contact Lens Care Mistakes to Avoid
Using saliva as a substitute. Saliva is even more inappropriate than water for lens contact. Your mouth contains hundreds of bacterial species that belong nowhere near your eyes. This habit is surprisingly common and consistently inadvisable.
Reusing old solution. Topping off yesterday’s solution with a small amount of fresh solution does not restore its disinfecting potency. Disinfecting agents are depleted during their first use cycle. Old solution is not just weakened. It can actually harbour bacteria that a fully potent fresh solution would eliminate.
Showering or swimming with lenses in. Shower water, pool water, lake water, and hot tub water all carry the same risks as tap water with the added exposure of prolonged contact. Remove lenses before any water activity.
Using a substitute for contact lens solution. Hydrogen peroxide, saline, eye drops, and rewetting drops are all different products with different functions. None of them replace a proper multipurpose solution for daily cleaning, disinfecting, and storage. When people ask what to do if they don’t have contact solution, the answer is always to go without lenses until proper solution is available, not to improvise.
Ignoring early symptoms. Mild discomfort or redness after water exposure is your eye signalling a problem early. Acting on these signals immediately, by removing lenses and seeking professional advice if symptoms persist, is always better than waiting.
Multisol+ by Gaymed Labs
Multisol+ is a multipurpose contact lens solution from Gaymed Labs, formulated to clean, disinfect, rinse, and store soft contact lenses safely. With effective antimicrobial agents, gentle surfactants, and conditioning ingredients, it provides everything water fundamentally cannot. Manufactured in a GMP and ISO 13485-certified facility with over 30 years of optical care expertise, Multisol+ is the kind of product you want to keep stocked at home, in your travel bag, and at your desk so you never find yourself reaching for a dangerous substitute.
Conclusion
Water and contact lenses do not belong together under any circumstances. Tap water, bottled water, distilled water, filtered water. None of these are safe substitutes for a proper contact lens cleaning solution, even for a single night, even for a quick rinse.
The consequences of water exposure range from a warped, uncomfortable lens to a sight-threatening corneal infection caused by organisms that live in everyday water supplies. These are not remote possibilities. They are documented, preventable outcomes of a habit many wearers consider harmless.
Keep a backup bottle of your best multipurpose contact lens solution wherever you travel. If you run out, leave your lenses out until you can replace it. Your corneas are not replaceable. Your lens solution bottle is.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use tap water as an emergency contact solution?
No. Tap water is not sterile and contains microorganisms including Acanthamoeba, which can cause a severe, painful, and potentially vision-threatening corneal infection when trapped between a contact lens and your eye. There is no safe emergency use of tap water with contact lenses.
What happens if you store contacts in water for one night?
The lenses swell and warp due to the difference in osmotic concentration between water and natural tears. Bacteria from the water colonise the lens surface overnight with no disinfecting agent present. Inserting these lenses the next morning places a physically distorted, bacterially contaminated surface directly on your cornea.
Can you get a parasite in your eye from washing contacts with water?
Yes. Acanthamoeba, a microscopic amoeba present in tap and some bottled water sources, can attach to contact lens surfaces during water exposure. When the lens is inserted, the organism is pressed against the cornea where it can burrow into tissue and cause Acanthamoeba keratitis, an extremely serious infection that can cause permanent corneal scarring.
Is it safe to rinse contact lenses with distilled water?
No. Distilled water has been purified of many contaminants but is not sterile in the way contact lens solution is. It contains no disinfecting agents, no pH buffering, and no conditioning ingredients. Using it on lenses provides none of the protection a proper solution delivers and still carries microbiological risk.
What should I do if I run out of contact solution and only have water?
Remove your lenses and do not wear them until you can purchase proper contact lens solution. If lenses have already been stored in water, discard them rather than inserting them. If you experience pain, redness, or sensitivity after any water exposure with lenses, remove them immediately and consult an eye care professional promptly.