Can I drop a contact lens and reuse it?

A dropped soft lens is almost always reusable. The risk is not the floor — it is what you might rinse it with.

1. Pick the lens up by the edge with a clean, dry fingertip.
2. Rinse generously (10+ seconds) with fresh multi-purpose solution from the bottle, not from your case.
3. Inspect under good light — any tear, edge defect or visible scratch and the lens is gone.
4. Reinsert as normal.

Never rinse a contact lens with tap water, bottled water, or saliva. Tap water can carry Acanthamoeba, a parasitic microorganism that causes one of the most serious lens-related infections. The risk is small but the outcome is severe.

If you are out and have no solution, the safer choice is to discard the lens — even a £1 daily disposable beats a cornea ulcer.