Redness and irritation in left eye after wearing contacts, started only recently.

So I know I should probably see an optometrist, but my annual check-up is soon upcoming and I really would rather wait for that if possible instead of pushing it sooner. So basically, I’ve been a non-frequent wearer of 3-month contacts for about a few years now. Only recently have I started wearing them somewhat more often, but typically I’ll wear them maybe twice a week, more or less. However, an exception to that is when I was away on vacation this summer for about two and a half weeks, in which I wore a pair nearly every day. And until that point, I never had any major issues with my contact lenses at all.

I’m gonna be honest, I’m definitely one of those people who stretches out their contacts longer than it should be. I don’t wear mine often, and I only get a couple of pairs every other year to last me for two years and so you can see why I’d hate to throw them out sooner than I have to. So during my vacation, I brought along a pair that I already had opened about two months prior to leaving, and planned to discard of them once I returned. But fast forward to not too long after I got home, which was around early August, I kinda made a dumb decision. I suppose the contact solution in the case dried out from the plane ride, and had been sitting there solution-less for about a few days. I know I should’ve just gotten a new pair, but I had somewhere really sudden to go that day and in a rush decided to just pour some solution in, soak it for an hour or two, and hope for the best. They didn’t seem TOO dried out.

Yeah, bad decision because after just a few hours my eyes were horribly red, my left eye more than my right, and I woke up the next day with terrible, wet, crusty red eyes. I’ve had pink eye before and it wasn’t as bad as this, however, because the crust mostly cleared up after I washed it and the redness persisted for just another day or two. For that reason, I didn’t believe it was really a bacterial infection or at least was a mild one and was mostly due to irritation, but I immediately got rid of the contacts and didn’t wear them for a few weeks. I also tried my best to soak the case in hot water and hope that killed any, if at all, bacteria residing in it. Next time I used contacts, I tore open a new pack and was perfectly fine. Then, I put them in the case and when I wore them again a few weeks later the redness was back. No pus though, just rednesses in my left eye that subsided after the next day. Regardless, I threw out the case and decided to just open a whole new one, but with the same pair of contacts.

Ever since then, I’ve worn my contacts a few times and for the first few wears, I had no issues. Then, I randomly began to sometimes experience my symptoms again, though mild. However, these past two weeks where I’ve only worn them twice have been dreadful. I wore them last Thursday for about 8 hours, and the next day my left eye was very red, swollen, had sensitivity to bright light, and kept randomly watering every few minutes. When it watered it felt as though something was in my eye under my eyelid, but I saw nothing. With not many other options, I decided that perhaps I’m suffering from dry eye and exactly a week later when I wore them again, I decided to try some eye-lubricating drops made specifically for contacts. I applied it pretty often and heavily because I was honestly paranoid, and I only had the contacts in for about five to six hours. It looked okay for about an hour, but then I started seeing the redness start slowly spreading from around my iris to most of the front area of my eye. I’m already dreading how it’ll be tomorrow.

I’d like to think that I’m pretty careful with my contacts, as I’m the only one in my family that still regularly wears them for the most part. My dad and brother didn’t take the greatest care of them and often slept in it, resulting in cornea damage and had to stop. My sister had an experience where the contacts badly irritated her eyes and also stopped, though she’ll wear them occasionally without issues. My eyesight is very bad and I enjoy wearing contacts because of how thick my frames are to accommodate my lens size. If I’d have to stop wearing contacts, I’d genuinely be really upset and I hope that isn’t the case. I’m just really at a loss for what to do here. My next option is to maybe clean the case again, more thoroughly this time, and open a new contact lens for just the left eye. Does anyone have any other ideas?

TLDR; my contacts started suddenly bothering me in my left eye after stupidly putting a mostly dried out pair in my eyes, resulting in redness and irritation the day after.