Reoccurring Contact Lens Dreams

In high school I got my first pair of contact lenses, that you can also order here. That was pretty unusual at the time; people didn’t wear them as much as they do now, and they were incredibly expensive. They also didn’t have disposable lenses; you had to clean them and care for them and hope they lasted for a year or two.

Because of the expense, my parents put the fear of God in me about taking care of my new contact lenses, so far from being the joyous experience it should have been, having lenses nearly gave me ulcers; I was terrified I’d lose them or tear them.

I started having reoccurring dreams about them, and in every dream they would change into something different, and I’d know there was something wrong with them, but I would still try frantically to put them in. I had a dream where they because little white shirt buttons. And one where they became large, blue, round jewels, like the Hope Diamond.

But in the dreams I had most often, they would still be lenses, but large, and cloudy. I worked at the library back then, and I had one dream that I had opened my lens case at work and that they had changed and grown huge; two inches in diameter. I still put them into my eyes, though, and tried to reshelve books, but I couldn’t really see them.

I had one of these dreams last year, when I was having too much trouble with my lenses and switched back to wearing glasses most of the time.

Contact Lens

This Post Has 66 Comments

  1. Lil

    Hi, I just wanted to say that I have the same recurring nightmare that my contacts have grown into big flimsy disks about the size of my face, and I am frantically trying to shrink them so that they will fit in my eyes again. It’s strange cause I think that I actually stretched them first in my dream, the way you would stretch dough for a pizza pie. I have no idea what they mean and why I have them so frequently. So in searching for meaning, I found your post. Surprised to see I’m not the only one.

  2. TropicGirl14

    How funny! I sometimes have those dreams too where my contact lenses have grown huge, the size of salad plates, and I’m trying to put them in my eye! There has to be some meaning to this- I’m going to keep googling! 🙂

  3. kedreamer

    This is fantastic! I still don’t know what the dreams mean, but its nice to know other people have them too. For me it is always that they are too big for my eye and I am trying to somehow shove them in and every time I think how is this happening again. Sometimes I think this must be a dream cause this can’t happen, but then it feels so real I keep going about it.

    1. K

      My reoccurring dream about contacts being too big is exactly the same as yours, like they’re not HUGE but visibly too large for my eyes and I still try putting them in, I have had this dream quite often. So strange.

      1. Maggie

        Hi I have the same dream that the are the size of half my palm and shrink down when I squeeze them into my eyes I hardly wear mine so don’t know why I’m getting this odd dream ,

  4. Lys

    I am so glad to see I am not the only one. I can’t remember any other recuring dreams except this one, where normally just one of my contacts will be too big and I still attempt to put it in, stretching my lid and blinking, hoping it will shrink to fit. Haha-the human mind is an interesting place. If anyone finds a meaning, let me know 🙂

  5. Liz

    WOW! Thank goodness others have these dreams,too. I regularly dream my contact lenses are as big as plates and I can’t fit them into my eye. Last night, I dreamed I had lenses coming out of my eye. Dozens of lenses would fall out of the corner of my eye, as if they were trapped back there all the time.

    1. Carla Treadway

      I have had these reoccurring dreams myself. I read somewhere it means maybe we need to open our eyes to some kind of truth or some truth we’ve already known and need to address

  6. Lauren

    I’m sad no one has found the meaning behind this dream because I definitely have the oversized contact lenses dream. I, like all of you, try to frantically put them in my eye despite their size. I also try shrinking them with contact solution. I wonder what it means??!?!?!

  7. Steph

    I don believe that there’s a mystical meaning behind dreams. We dream to process the ideas we’ve encountered that day and to sort through our anxieties and worries. We’re probably collectively sensitive about putting things in our eyes – that’s a very delicate task that requires paying attention.

  8. Justin

    Whether there is a mystical meaning or simply a scientific meaning, I think it’s fascinating that we all have this same dream. I tend to agree with Steph in that our minds are processing the idea of putting contact lenses in. I doubt very much that anybody who does not wear contact lenses has this dream. It really is amazing that we all share this dream, though.

  9. Nick

    Thank goodness I found all your comments because I too have had this dream many times. In fact, the memory is so real that I wonder if it wasn’t actually a dream and perhaps my lenses had got large and I really did try to stuff them back onto my eyes!

  10. Paula

    I have had this same dream for years…sometimes my contacts are the size of dinner plates and I am folding them up to get them into my eyes. I haven’t had the dream for a very long time however…until last night…so I’m really trying to figure out what is going on in my life that I need to see clearly. This time, one contact was the size of an umbrella!

  11. Melinda

    I had a dream last night, which is why I did a Google search on contact lenses dreams. Funny because I always have the trying to get the way too big lenses in my eyes except last night I dreamt they were too small – smaller than my pupils. That’s a first. I also get the one where I’m trying to fold the extra large lense so it will fit. Nice to know there are others. A friend of mine studies Freudian Psychology and says that whatever the dream means to YOU is what is true

  12. Meg

    Same dream for years! The contacts are always too big and I still try to put them in anyways, thinking they will shrink down to size.

  13. Valentine

    I have this dream all the time as well. Probably once a month and I am starting to wonder if it is my subconscience telling me to change my lenses? I thought of this because yesterday my lenses were feeling very dry in the morning and uncomfortable, but I toughed it out through out the day… I changed them this morning because they were uncomfortable again today and… well it was time to put in some new peepers:) Let me know if anyone has this dream when feeling discomfort… just a thought…

  14. Lizzie

    Funny – last night I again had this dream which occurs every 6 months or so for years. The last 2 weeks have been extremely stressful and overwhelming. The simplest explanation is that I am trying to fit too many things into my life right now – just like trying to shove a giant lens (sometimes the size of placemat) into my eye!

    1. Jennifer Battaglia

      This is crazy that there are other people who have had these dreams about oversized contact lenses! I have had this dream over and over again throughout the past several years and your explanation resonates with my life right now!

  15. dreamer

    I also have had this dream for years. Usually i find myself putting contact lens solution on the giant contact lens trying to shrink it. Last night, though, I dreamed six contact lenses came out of one eye when i tried to remove one. Perhaps it means there is more going on than a contact lens. Funny, because I am down to my last extended wear pair and just reordered (after the dream), but I think the dream has more to do with what is going on in our lives than whether or not we need new lenses.

  16. Christina

    I am so overwhelmed by how many of you are having the same dream!!! I was sure I was going nuts and losing my mind, LOL. I agree with Lizzie who posted on June, 14 about the meaning behind the dream. I too am trying to fit too many things into my life and my mind right now. I work full time, go to school full time, and I am going to be moving 30 miles from where I live in the next week! On top of that there has been alot of drama with personal relationships in the past two months. Sometimes I can fit the lenses in and sometimes I can’t. I guess that’s pretty metaphorical for what I am going through. Sometimes I can fit everything in and sometimes I can’t.

  17. Shue

    I’m just happy to know I’m not alone. I’ve had this recurring dream for years. Usually they grow to the size of dinner plates and I’m frantically trying to fit them in. Last night they were made of thick paper and were swollen with water.

    It freaks me out but I’m always happy to see my contact lens back to their normal size when I wake up in the morning 🙂

  18. Shue

    Does anyone relate to this? Not really for me, although the last time I had this dream a couple months ago the contact lens were tainted with blue & yellow paint and those were the colours of the project I was working in at work.

    ——————————–

    Contact Lens

    To see or wear contact lens in your dream suggests that you need to focus on the task at hand. You need to pay closer attention to a situation before acting on it. The dream may also be a metaphor that you need to get in “contact” with someone.

    If you have difficulties putting on your contact lens in your dream, then it indicates that you are having trouble paying attention. 

  19. Sheila

    I haven’t worn contact lenses now for 15 years, but I wore them for thirty, and I still have this recurring dream of trying to put enormous contact lenses in my eyes. In the dream I’m very perplexed–how did a lens get so large? how on earth will I get it in? Still, I keep trying. Last night the dream turned into all these little pill shapes of different sizes and colors that turned into contact lenses when I put solution on them. But then, they started turning into other things–a condom and a diaphragm in one case!! Too weird. Things you put in and on, I guess . . .

  20. Jeanni

    I’ve had this same dream for years. Last night I had it and decided to search for the meaning. Didn’t think id actually find other people that have the same dream. I get so stressed in the dream because i cant get them in. How weird!!

    1. chris

      Me too! Been wearing lenses for about 10 years. Used to have the dream about the giant lenses quite frequently. I had it again last night for the first time in a long time and so felt compelled to search google for answers, and it lead me here! It’s so frustrating that such an obvious sign doesn’t throw me into a state of lucid dreaming.

  21. lisa

    So happy I am not the only one who has this recurring dream! I dream they are huge too and I don’t know how to get them into my eyes. But I have to say sometimes in my dream I get mad and try to shove them in my eyes anyway lol

  22. Alexis

    Ugh I have this recurring dream about contact lenses but it’s always about them burning and having to take them out! Last night I dreamt there was sand in them, while in my eye, and another time I dreamt I had to pull out this really huge string from my eye. I don’t understand!! :/

  23. Eliza

    Ive had the recurring dream for months now…first the contacts were very large but when i went to put them in, they shrunk and somehow fit. Then i dreamt it was a blister pack filled w fluid the size of my hand…i dropped it in the sink and it broke!…had teenage anxiety of my parents getting mad…i have disposables now but ive worn contacts since i was 13 in 1985 when we only had one pair for years….the other night the contact was a huge tissue paper colorful Mexican flower…i thought…i cant do this!…but ive done it before so ill try…but it didnt work and i stopped forcing…just wear my glasses! Im not going to hurt myself like that!

  24. Bethany Stroud

    Me toooo! Very similar. As long as I can recall.

  25. Bella Picasso

    The one clear aspect to MY dream of trying to put my very large contact in my eye is that I’m looking in a mirror in order to do it! I believe this means you have to look (take notice) of the work ahead if you.

  26. Lisa

    I have had the same dream for years now, every 4-6 months or so. The last time I dreamt that the lens was about the size of a quarter and edges were curled inwards. I managed to get one in but it was uncomfortable. Usually I dream they start out about the size of my palm and sometimes as big as an umbrella. Its curious that so many of us have such a similar dream, as odd as it is.

  27. Sarah

    I do not wear contacts but I had this dream last night! I wanted color contacts (I believe green). I originally have brown eyes. My boyfriend whom I’m having up and downs with provided the contacts. They were so thick, cloudy, and stretchy. I was having difficulty putting them on while facing the mirror. I placed one but there was no color change. I didn’t like it so as I was trying to take it out I basically pulled my eye out about a centimeter. It hurt, I was really scared but somehow I didn’t mind the way my new “eye” looked. I think it’s because I originally have deep set in eyes and sometimes I feel a little insecure of having “smaller” deeper eyes than people with big eyes. Anyways it was really weird just like most dreams. The only meaning I can find is that “I need to see things clearly before acting out.” I’ve never had this dream before and would like to know the root of it.

  28. Danielle deeter

    I too have had this recurrent dream that my contact lenses are quite large. I sometimes fold them to fit my eyes, sometimes they are large and square and I can fit one or two corners into my eye but struggle getting the rest into my eye. I am amazed at the number of others who have this dream. Why would we dream this, and why would so many other people have this same dream??? Strange and very interesting!

  29. Wendy

    Wow…. I have been having this dream for as long as I can remember! Has to be at least ten years if not longer. My contacts are sometimes as large as a pizza and I’m desperately trying to get them in my eyes. Every time that I wake up from this dream I am so physically anxious because it feels so real. I’m sure it’s stress related and having something to do with seeing a difficult situation with more clarity. I just wish that someone could tell us really what it means! So glad that I’m not alone !!!!

  30. Brie

    I’ve been having these dreams too. Usually I can get them in my eyes but I make note of how huge thy are and how confused I am that they actually fit in my eyes. Sometimes they’re in different shapes and patterns. Like one time they were the same plasticky material but shaped like lacy pink and yellow flowers.

  31. Njbrkb

    Ok so I’m not crazy…that’s a relief! Have had the big contact dream for years. Sometimes I fold them, some times I just have multiple pairs in the same case and can’t tell them apart. In other dreams everything goes all black and even though my contacts are in and eyes open, I can’t see.

  32. maria

    oh my god, I just googled this because I’ve been having this dream a lot. I can’t believe others do too. They always bigger than my eyes and I tried to shove them in.

  33. Alison

    This is so crazy I have been having this same kind of dream for yeArs . I had it 2,nights in a row and my husband said I should look it up. In my dreams they are always ways to big and thru are always white and cloudy like you all said I’m always on trying to figure out how to out then in my eye lol. And I am always trying to figure out how they got so big, sometimes I realize I am just dreaming but still its crazy. Its crazy how many people have the same kind of dream though.

  34. Patty

    Contact Lenses

    To dream of contact lenses represents a wish to avoid being noticed caring or focusing on something too much. Keeping your obsessions or concerns private. Hiding from others how interested you are in something. Your ability to look like an expert or professional.

    To dream of losing a contact lense may reflect feelings about losing your ability to look good being an expert or professional. A lost ability to easily appear knowledgeable. Feelings about yourself having to look like you care too much to others or don’t know what you are talking about others effortlessly.

  35. Patty

    Contact Lens
    To see or wear contact lens in your dream suggests that you need to focus on the task at hand. You need to pay closer attention to a situation before acting on it. The dream may also be a metaphor that you need to get in “contact” with someone.

    If you have difficulties putting on your contact lens in your dream, then it indicates that you are having trouble paying attention

  36. John

    Wow I can’t believe others have this dream. I have worn contact lens’ for around 10 years now and these dreams have only recently started to occur.

    Last night was the second time I had such a dream. I dreamt only one contact was enlarged to about 2″ where as the other was fine. I was struggling to get it in and failed many times becoming frustrated.

  37. Gina

    Wow, this is so interesting! I have not worn contacts in 10 years and have never had this dream until last night, but it was exactly as so many here have described it and I was nervous and physically agitated and anxious when I woke up this morning! My contacts were the size of tea cup saucers and I kept squeezing more and more solution on them and trying to get them into my eyes. It reminded me of recurring teeth dreams that I used to have in college. Thanks for this post because it truly comforted me, like many others who have written, to know this happens to others!

  38. Sandi

    Oh my…I have had this recurring dream for years and years. It happens about every 6 months to a year. I am always trying to put it in my left eye…it’s always huge. Last night, for the first time it was torn.

  39. Masha

    I have the same dream. It happens every 6 months or so as well. Last night was different as it was pretty lucid where I kind of knew I was in the ‘giant contact lens’ dream, thinking to myself “whoa…my lens has grown again”. In my dream I was walking around a house with blurry vision. I went to the bathroom to put my lenses in and lo and behold one had grown giant. I am in the midst of some huge life decisions and I wonder if there is some symbolism in that area, at least in terms of this particular dream. Usually I can put the giant lens in and it somehow shrinks up or I open my eyes wide enough to place it. Perhaps it’s a reminder for us to open our eyes wide (become more aware) so that we can see things (be open to our heart).

  40. 古月天(古菜包)

    Dang, I had the contact lens dream again last night. This time there were 2 kinds. One was just twice the size. As “usual” I put it back in the container and waited for it to shrink back. The other one was thick and wrapped around my eyeball so tightly I was a bit scared 🙁 it came out eventually.

  41. bardia

    I have had a similar dream for YEARS. in mine, the contacts grow increasingly big and I STILL try to put them in although I know (from common sense and also from previous dreams) that it wouldn’t go in. It never works.

  42. Michelle Snyder

    I also have had this same dream. Its crazy how I look at this giant contact and think how the heck am I going to get this in my eye. Somehow I am always in a hurry to go somewhere and need the contact in so I can go….I manage to get them in but I can’t see very well. I asked my husband what he thought it meant and he said maybe there is a bigger picture you need to be looking at, instead of a small narrow view. Interesting thought……

  43. Peter

    Incredible! I’ve been having this dream for years. I had no idea so many other people were having as well. It it, In my dreams, my contact lenses are about 3-4 inches in diameter, and of a heavier material than they really are. And every time, I wonder how I’m going to get these to fit in my eyes. Yet, somehow, I do seem to manage to stuff them in under my eyelids and beneath the skin below my eye, and they seem to fit OK. At least, I don’t remember *not* being able to get them in.

    I’d say I’d have this dream at least every six months or so. It’s not a particularly stressful dream – there’s no sense of panic or anything, just puzzlement at how I’m going to get them in, but in the end, I think I manage to. Would love to know what it means

  44. karla

    I had the dream last night and its not the first time its like the contacts are wayy too big and I don’t know how to put them on. Its crazy and iv had the dream so many times I decided to see if I could find what it meant online I didn’t expect so many people to have the same dream

  45. Sara

    Thankful for the internet so that I can look up things like this. I have had the same dream for years now and just had it last night and decided to look it up. Contact lenses the size of flying saucers. Trying desperately to put them in. Last night’s dream added a new twist, wherein, I kept opening up a new pair of disposable ones, and they kept crumbling in my hands and I was trying to find an extra pair! Seriously, I got up this morning and was so relieved to open my lens case and find my normal size contacts in there!!!!

  46. Humaira Aslam

    It’s amazing to see how many people are having the same dream. I had it last night and I’m so tired of having it that I thought I’d Google it.
    I was sure I won’t find anything about it because I must be the only one having this dream about my contact lenses too big for my eyes.
    Is actually quite a relief to see all these comments 🙂
    In my dream, my contact lenses start off as 2 inch diameter and keep getting bigger as I try over and over to put them in and by the end of the dream that become as large as a dinner plate. Last night, I was trying to put them in their storage box and that kept getting bigger and would spring out before I could screw the top on!

  47. Nessa

    It’s so freaky that so many people have had this happened to them. I’ve had these sorts of dreams for years.

  48. Shue

    Just scrolled through the comments to see my post in 2012 and 2015. Hello it’s 2016 and I’ve just had a dream again last night. This time, my contact lens were square. I think I get the dream when I’m stressed about something. At this moment I’m stressed about helping my friends buy concert tickets, and I’m just guessing that could explain the square shape. I don’t usually remember my dreams but I sure remember these.

  49. kristie

    i keep having a reoccurring dream that I will be putting my contacta in and i look down and the contact solution is black, and almost looks moldy.

  50. Anastasia

    I’m so glad I’m not alone. I’ve had a recurring dream for years that my contacts are too big. I somehow maneuver them into my eyes and they fit once they’re in place. Weird!

  51. K

    I have had this dream for years:Giant contacts I am trying to fit into my eyes! The over all feeling is stress and that something is not quite right. In fact, now I can sometimes recognize I am dreaming within a dream when I see a large contact. I am not able to control my dream after I realize I’m in it, I usually just wake up or switch dreams. I am curious to know if this dream has an interpretation.

  52. Alicia

    I always dream this it’s so stressful they look like pancakes some times and I’m freaking out because I can’t get them in and I can’t see a freaking thing ! I always wake in a panic and then I worry about my contacts

  53. Anu

    Mine are the strangest dreams…. contact lense splits into 4 or 5 lenses with low power and I have to put all these together to make the required power..in the meantime I mess them up and not able to put them in my eyes… sometimes they grow big in size and I’ve to wait for them to shrink

  54. Tanya

    Raising hand…me too!
    I googled because last night I had the dream again but this time the lenses were a dark, opaque, red. Anyway, they were like placemats & I remember thinking, “well I got them in in past dreams so I can do it again!” Kind of lucid.
    We’re struggling to “see”, I’m unsure if we know what our focus should be or even that we’re lacking focus. I think that’s why it’s confusing…what does my subconscious want me to know!??!

    1. Gina Guarino

      I have had this same reoccuring dream yet I havent worn contacts for almost 10 years when I had lasik. Dreams are generally anxiety based but I believe the most purposeful are the dreams where our subconscious minds are tyring to alert us to what our conscious minds are not yet aware of. We are not seeing things as clearly as we should and should utilize this message to figure it out what we’re missing. I’ve never analyzed this when these dreams occur but I will start to look at what’s happing in my life next time I have this dream.

  55. Bridget Mirza

    Can’t believe this thread is so old and still being added on to! I have this same dream about my contacts being too big. Been having it for years and years, perhaps about 19 years altogether. Like others here, I believe it must be the subconscious trying to tell me that I’m not looking at something closely enough/I need to concentrate on something in my life more. Just wish I knew what those things were! Thanks everybody, past and present, for sharing. What a strange thing that links us 🙂

  56. Melissa

    Oh my gosh! Me too!!! I’ve had this recurring dream for the past 3 years or so. I go to put my contacts in and they are the size of dinner plates. I have to push them in, fold them under and around for them to fit. I’m always asking myself “Why are my contacts so big? This isn’t normal. This doesn’t feel good. This is too hard.” It’s a quick dream, but one I remember consistently having. I know I manage to get them in but the entire time I know it shouldn’t be so difficult.
    I’m very excited to know we all share this bizarre, recurring dream.

  57. Susan

    I love that this thread has been going on for years! I have had the very same dream for many years – my contacts are the size of frisbees. It’s usually with my recurring dream of being back in high school on test day, having not been to class all semester and I don’t know my locker combination. As I put it in writing, I’m starting to think I just may have some issues I need to deal with.

  58. Suzanne

    OMG me too dreaming about huge contact lenses. Size of a dinner plate but as soon as I try and put them in my eyes they shrink and fit. But last night not only where they huge there were about 3 in each eye when I took them out

  59. Ashley

    Same here! I dream about them being too big, and too thick in the center but still trying to put them in. I also dream about them drying up and me still trying to put them in my eyes dry and hard. Also where they’ve turned into like buttons. But mainly always they are huge and thick and I’m trying to still put them in my eyes. I get these contact dreams all the time. Glad I’m not the only one.

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