5 reasons why you should never sleep while wearing contact lenses
As a corneal specialist I’ve seen some severe corneal ulcers that occur because of sleeping in contact lenses.
So if sleeping in your eye makeup is a no no, then sleeping in contact lenses is a HELL NO!
Here's why:
1️⃣ Dry eyes: contact lenses absorb your tears, that’s how they stay soft. Sleeping in your contacts will take all your tears, leaving your eyes high and dry!
2️⃣ Corneal abrasion: because the eyes can get extremely dry when wearing contacts for too long, the top epithelial layer of the cornea can come off, and this is super painful! When I see this I also start to worry that there may be the start of an infection, so I watch these pretty carefully!
3️⃣ Red eyes: because wearing contacts for too long deprives the eye of oxygen, this causes a vasodilation of the blood vessels on the surface of the eye, or even the growth of new blood vessels on the cornea, making the eye red and irritated.
4️⃣ Allergies: wearing contacts for too long can actually cause an allergy to the contact lens material. When this happens your eye will get very irritated when wearing contacts, and sometimes you might feel more discomfort when the contacts are not in your eye. This is because bumps form underneath the eyelid that constantly rub against the ocular surface. This is very common and takes months to get better.
5️⃣ Infections: sleeping in contact lenses deprives your eye of oxygen, this greatly increases your risk of developing a corneal ulcer, which is quite serious.
