Can contact lenses cause dry eyes?
Contact lenses can cause or worsen dryness, because a lens sits on the tear film and can reduce oxygen reaching the surface while increasing evaporation. Symptoms often improve when lenses are reduced or stopped.
- Subject
- Eye conditions
- Topic
- Dry eye
- Kind of question
- Can I…
- Procedures
- Contact lenses
- Last reviewed
- 22 September 2026
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Where this answer sits
It is one of 483 answers in the vision and eye health knowledge base, filed under Eye conditions & diseases in Dry eye . The subject page carries the answers either side of it, and the hub is searchable.
Subjects this question touches
The pages that answer the subject behind the question, rather than the question itself.
- Condition Dry eye
- Non-surgical option Contact lenses
- Non-surgical option Glasses
- Comparison Glasses vs contact lenses
This information is for educational purposes and does not replace an examination by a qualified eye-care professional.
General answers cannot tell you what is happening in your own eyes. Only an examination by a qualified ophthalmologist can do that.
Sources & further reading
We prefer primary sources. Where a claim comes from a manufacturer, a single study or a regulator, it is labelled as such below.
- EyeSmart: eye health information for the public
Patient-facing material from the largest ophthalmology professional body, covering conditions, tests and treatments outside refractive surgery.
Used for Cross-checking patient-facing explanations of non-refractive eye conditions; Describing what tests such as dilation and OCT involve.
Link checked 23 September 2026