Why is it bad to sleep with contacts in?

Everyone I know who ignored the eye doctor's pleas to take out their contacts regularly ended up with serious eye problems and can no longer wear contacts at all. And it could have been much worse!

A few reasons, one your sufficating your eye, most contacts are not breathable enough to allow your eye to get the o2 it needs. Some parts of your eye do not have blood vessels and they "feed" by getting O2, when you have a contact on it limits the amount of O2 your eye can take...when you fall asleep with them in, your eyes are typicaly shut making it even more difficult for the eyes to get the air they need. Also, they can cause abrasion issues, durring REM your eyes move around alot and if they are already being dried out the added friction can cause cornial abrasing which is not fun in the least. If you want to wear your contacts overnight talk to your eye docter about trying some extended wear contacts such as )2 optixs or Focus Night and Days...

I have wore contacts my whole life and take them out about once every month. My eye doctor has yelled at me before about it because he said it creates long term damage in worsening the vision and dries out your eyes. Although, I have been doing my routine for over eight years and don't feel that it has done any long term damage. I usually take them out at night once a month and let them soak. Depending what type of disposables they are, I feel they tend to lose their effectiveness after a while, so I only wear them for a few more weeks after that. Really, if you don't like taking them out, the place you should be most careful is the shower, which is when it really dries out your eyes. For that problem, I usually use the solution like eye drops, and that I find helps very much. If you have glasses though, I recommend wearing those for a week before putting contacts back in just to give your eyes a break.

There is a more breathable type of lens that can be slept it. However not everyone can sleep in those lens either. If your eye doctor examines your eyes and gives you the go ahead then it is okay to sleep in your lens. For most people regular lens do not let the eye breath enough causing severe dryness, redness, and can lead to infection etc.

? I have had soft contacts for 6 years. And sleep with them every day. I dont have a problem with them. I should keep track on how long I keep them on, but what tells me to change them is when the contacts build up some residue.