Did my friend infect me with something through the bathroom sink? STD's, bacteria, viruses, etc.?

Question

I dropped my contact lens in the bathroom sink 2 weeks ago, and about 2 days after that, the bottom part of my eyes (not the eyeball, but the skin) became painful and swollen. The white part of my eyes were also red. No pus or clear liquid.

Here's what I'm afraid of: my friend (who is sexually active) used the washroom to shower (and probably used the sink to brush his teeth, and rinse too) after "picking up" a guy at a gay bar the night before.

About 5 minutes after he was done, I went in to take a shower, and then after showering, I put my contacts in. Well, I dropped one of them in the sink. I immediately rinsed the contact with my solution (Amo Complete - how well does it disinfect?) using the "rub" method.

How likely is it that my friend transmitted (bacteria, viruses, etc.) something to me? Of course, it could be MY germs, but I'm not sexually active at all, so I don't have an STD.

This week, I got red eyes again after wearing my contacts, so I KNOW they are dirty

Answer 1

Gosh, it's possible, I suppose. If you're concerned, you should see an eye doctor. Eyes are nothing to be messed with, so better to err on the side of caution!

Answer 2

There is no chance WHATSOEVER that you caught an STD from a dirty contact lense, the very idea makes no sense. The thing about STDs is that they're transmitted by Sex (hence the name Sexually Transmitted Disease) typically they need some kind of fluid exchange between two people (i.e. infected semen or mucous from one person coming into contact with an open wound or a mucous membrane from the other person). Pretty much any STD would be killed with in a few seconds of hitting the sink.

Of course, there are plenty of other things floating in the air of your bathroom that could have infected your contact lense. Also, it may not be that the lense is contaminated but adctually damaged or scratched in some way that makes it irritate your eyes when you wear it. You need to stop wearing the lense immediately and put in a new one, if the swelling doesn;t clear up in a day or so, go straight to see a doctor about it.

If you don't mind me saying, immediately assuming that your illness/problem is somehow caused by the sexual habits of yoru friend makes you sound pretty homophobic. There are many things that could have caused the problems that your experiencing, especially in a bathroom. After all, every time you flush your toilet tiny particles of whatever was in the bowl at the time take to the air and spread out all over the room, and that stuff is pretty much guaranteed to be far more damaging for your eyes than anything your friend has managed to pick up from strange men in bed...

Answer 3

The bathroom sink is the most disgusting of all places, right next to the toilet. If I dropped something in the sink, I would most likely dispose of it. Especially something that I need to put onto my eyeball. Germs were definitely transferred into your eyeball from the contact lens, even if you did use that solution and "rubbed" for half a second. Think about what goes into that sink when its being used. Spit, toothpaste juice, lugies, blood, and God knows whatever else! You my friend, probably got a number of things in your eye now.

I strongly suggest you go to an ophthalmologist, fast! Maybe they can give you some type of eye wash or treatment. Boys...they never learn. Tsk, tsk...

Answer 4

There's no way that an STD organism has infected your contact lens. I think you're unfairly judging your friends' lifestyle.

An unclean bathroom sink can contain all sorts of bacteria, from all sources (think of what you typically use a bathroom sink for; even if you're not sexually active, traces of urine and feces will be in there from washing your hands, as well as bacteria from your mouth from brushing teeth, as well as bacteria from anywhere else from when you just wash your hands). If you're going to be mad at your friend, be mad from his lack of hygiene, not his sexual preferences.

I would throw out the contact lenses, get new ones, and just be more careful with your contacts in the future.

Answer 5

It's highly unlikely. To begin with if the sink isn't cleaned daily, you've got a whole cesspool of bacteria growing right there. Your toilet bowl is probably cleaner than your sink.Check with your eye doc if you want to be totally sure. Maybe you just need new contacts.

Answer 6

VERY Doubtful that you got anything from your friends sink.....if anything...you could have had lotion or perfume or something on your finger and it iritated your eye...even though you cleaned the contact...

Answer 7

uhh-maybe u just need new contacts.

Answer 8

you can be easily infected because of your frined...