Question about Contacts and Nursing.......

NurseyBaby'05, BSN, RN · Aug 12, 2004

I'm uncomfortable wearing them in the hospital. I am concerned about splashing, contamination, etc. I like to have the extra buffer that my glasses provide. Also, since the air is usually really dry in the hospitals where I've worked or had clinicals I wind up with really dry w/ my contacts in and end up rubbing them. Yuck!

jemb · Aug 12, 2004

I've been a nurse for 21 years and have worn contacts every single day to work. (I like to be able to see what I'm doing!) I never gave it a thought because I had no other option--it would be kind of like thinking about whether I should wear shoes to work. I've never had a problem and never heard of any other nurse getting an infection from wearing contacts to work.

On the other hand, I have known a couple of nurses that have had some problems from make up/mascara, getting onto their eyes when they were working. One had an allergic type of reaction, and the other rubbed her irritated eye and managed to scratch the cornea. They didn't even wear contacts!

Ari RN, BSN, RN · Aug 12, 2004

I've been a nurse for 21 years and have worn contacts every single day to work. (I like to be able to see what I'm doing!) I never gave it a thought because I had no other option--it would be kind of like thinking about whether I should wear shoes to work. I've never had a problem and never heard of any other nurse getting an infection from wearing contacts to work.
On the other hand, I have known a couple of nurses that have had some problems from make up/mascara, getting onto their eyes when they were working. One had an allergic type of reaction, and the other rubbed her irritated eye and managed to scratch the cornea. They didn't even wear contacts!

Well the mascara doesn't apply to me. :rotfl: :rotfl:

Thank you NurseyBaby'05 and jemb for your opinions.

Anyone else??????

cannoli · Aug 12, 2004

I prefer glasses, they do provide a little more protection from splatter, and things sure do splatter, sometimes when you least expect it.

Altra, BSN, RN · Aug 12, 2004

I've been wearing contacts for almost 20 years. In that time, I've had exactly one eye infection. With my particular combo of myopia & astigmatism, there is a noticeable difference in the vision correction I get from my glasses vs. my contacts. So I'll be wearing my contacts as a nurse.

I do recognize the risk, but all I can do is make good use of goggles/face shields whenever necessary, just as is practiced by health care workers who don't need vision correction.

RN4NICU, LPN, LVN · Aug 12, 2004

I've worn contacts since I was a kid. I'm with the poster who said it's like deciding whether I should wear my shoes to work - it wasn't something I thought about as an option. I would have a splitting headache if I wore glasses for an entire shift, but I would be stumbling around like a blind person without them. Luckily for me, there isn't much splashing in the NICU, and if I'm going to be in a situation where splashing might occur, I wear a mask with a face shield (after all, if I don't want it in my eyes, I probably don't want it on my face or near my mouth either), or sometimes I wear plastic goggles like the surgical techs wear. Closest unprotected call I had was when weighing a baby that I was admitting to the unit (huge 8 pounder in for low glucoses) - that kid peed halfway across the room, luckily I was able to dive out of the way without getting nailed. :)

Ruby Vee, BSN · Aug 12, 2004

hi everyone:
i was just wondering how sanitary it is to wear contacts and work as a nurse. i've always thought about how easy it would be to catch a bacterial infection in your eyes. pink eye can be another possibility. are contacts safe?
just wondering................

thanks to all that reply!

iundefinedundefinedi've been a nurse for 27 years. i've worn contacts some of the time, glasses some of the time and had several eye infections (always when i was wearing contacts.) i've had pink eye a couple of times . . . that was fun. not! and i worked with a nurse (neither glasses nor contacts) who wound up with a herpes infection in both of her eyes. she was miserable, and there was considerable concern about the possibility of her going blind.

in general, i think it's safer to wear glasses if you have the option. when i get home from work, my glasses are covered with so many spatters that i can't believe i'm ever foolish enough to wear contacts to work!

if your institution uses the sand beds, there has been documentation in the past (couple of decades ago) that they're associated with a higher incidence of conjunctivitis in nursing staff.

if you're concerned enough to ask the question, wear the glasses. it's safer.

Ari RN, BSN, RN · Aug 12, 2004

Thanks cannoli, MLOS, RN4NICU and Ruby Vee for your replies.

It is greatly appreciated! :)

jemb · Aug 12, 2004

Re:" Well the mascara doesn't apply to me." Ari, you might look very cute in mascara! I'll l'll look for the updated avatar. :chuckle

Actually, I think it is very odd that some nurses are concerned about more infections with contacts. However, I admit, having never given the subject a thought, I don't know if there is any evidence to support that wearing contacts while working with patients results in more infections than contact wearers would get anyway. Seems like if it was a true infection risk, universal precautions would require eye protection at all times, not just for certain circumstances. Nurses who do not need vision correction (and therefore do not wear glasses) don't seem to have a high incidence of eye infections.

That said, there are some people who should not be wearing contacts at all- let alone when they are dealing with patients -- due to their own personal care habits.

People can get eye infections from contacts that were not cleaned properly or frequently enough, from rubbing their eyes with dirty hands, from contaminated cleaning solution, or from numerous other source. If those people happen to be nurses, it could be wrongly assumed that the infection was acquired from working in a hospital.