Why is it bad to sleep with contacts in?

Question

I know it's bad, and I'm not going to try it. I'm just curious as to why it is bad? What's the reason? Why does it matter if you're awake or asleep?

Answer 1

Nothing is going to happen to you if you fall asleep while wearing your contacts, just don't do it all the time.

The main reason is that the contact lense blocks oxygen from the cornea, which can cause cells to die and lead to blurry vision.

If you don't like taking your lenses out every night, you can get extended-wear lenses.

Most extended wear lenses are FDA-approved to be worn without removal for up to seven days. A new type of soft contact lens material, silicone hydrogel, is considered "super-permeable" (lets oxygen through), and some lenses made from this material are approved for up to 30 days of wear without removal. One gas permeable lens brand is also approved for 30 days of wear. This 30-day type of extended wear is sometimes referred to as "continuous wear."

Answer 2

Oxygen.

Your eyes need a certain level of oxygen. At night your eyes need less of it to accomodate your lids being closed. However, your body didn't anticipate another "lid" or "cover" (ie a contact lens) blocking the oxygen/reducing the amount of oxygen let in.

So your eyes start to asphyxiate and they react by getting bigger.."the bigger I get," your eye says, "the more oxygen I can gather." So your eyes swell (edema), not too much in the way of new tears being replenished (not blinking) so your eyes, which are now sufficating, now have a contact lens adhering to the eye.

Adhering/sticking to the eye with very little moisture under the lens it starts to be come abrasive. SO now you have...

1) Swollen Corneal do to lack of oxygen (corneal edema... pretty painful)

2) A contact lens stuck to your eye (pretty painfull to remove)

3) and scratches to your cornea... (yup... painfull also.)

Please don't sleep with them =-)

Answer 3

The person who gave me my contacts told me that our eyes need oxygen, and the contacts cut off some of the oxygen. They let some oxygen in, but not enough.

And there was this story about a guy who left contacts in his eyes for a very long time, and they stuck to his eyeballs!

Answer 4

some are designed so you can sleep with them in........

I have daily disposable which are not recomended for sleeping with......on the rare occasion i have fallen asleep with them in,i tend to wake after 4-6 hours with sore swollen and sticky  eyes.This makes it hard to remove the contacts, but not removing them makes my eyes hurt more......Even on removing them my eyes are a bit sore and need a break before putting a fresh pair in (at least 6 hours).........so for those reasons i tend to remove lenses before i go up to my bed and wear my specs instead

Answer 5

they could go to the back of ur eye..n they dont

let ur eyes breath.

Answer 6

Wearing contacts while you sleep increases the risk of vision threatening infections and/or ulcerations of the cornea. You only get one pair of eyes in life. Why risk them for a little convenience?

Answer 7

Well bacteria develop and causes infection and when you wake up you're eye will be dry and when you blink it hurts and can dislodge your contacts to your upper eye lid. Even if you get a special contact that allow you to sleep with it, it's recommend that you take it out and clean it.