How bad is it to sleep in contacts?

I read someplace that the danger is something like 20% increased chance of eye infection, 50% chance of eye irritation.

And on rare occasions the contact lense gets cunked up to the eye and it takes a lot of eye drops and rubbing to get the darn thing out then you end up having to wear your galsses for a day or two because your eyes just don;t want anything on them.

Somewhere I read a study was done and about 40% of contact lense wearers have slept with them in at least once. Something like 30% have slept with them in more than once.

Though it is ill advised to do so on a regular basis, the soft lenses and the newer "breathing" lenses do not irriate as much as the old hard lenses.

My brother has done this a lot and he has had many eye infections.

I did this a few times. Once one of my contacts fell out of my eye when I was sleeping and I lost it so I don't like to do it.

It is o.k. to sleep in these for a month.

It is not recommended to sleep in contacts. Even the long-wear variety.

Many people have gone nearly blind by doing that and have caused irreversible damage. Your eyes need oxygen and contacts obstruct oxygen flow.

Ok, Sherasi scared me the most. Thanks, guys. I'm taking them out in a minute.

My daughter has soft contacts that you take out every night. However, one night last week she went straight to bed in them after an evening out. The next morning, one of them was stuck to her eyeball. She had to go to the optician to have it removed. She now has a very runny, bloodshot eye, no lasting damage but I don't think she will do it again.

I sleep in mine periodically. Not on purpose, and not as a habit, but it has happened.

I haven't had any bad effects. Yes, they are dry when I wake up, but I just put saline in my eyes to moisten them. That could prevent them sticking to your eyes.

I know its not safe to do for extended periods, but it happens sometimes. You won't necessarily lose an eye.

I recently started wearing contacts, the kind that you wear for a week for 24 hours and then take one night without them. The eye doctor did tell me that a very low percentage of people can wear them without taking them out more frequently because of protein build-up and ulcers. She had me come back two weeks in a row after wearing them for the full time to see how they looked after a week and said that I should be fine with them.

If you do not have contact lenses that are specifically for overnight wear, I wouldn't suggest you sleep in them on a regular basis.

Everyone is different, I wouldn't risk the health of my eyes without checking with a professional.

It is NOT good to sleep in your contacts, in fact it should not be done ever! Contacts are a priviledge to have. I am only 18, got contacts when I was 15. Now I was used to sleeping in my contacts weeks at a time. And since my glasses had broke I rarely took them out. Now that I'm 18 I went to the doc yesterday to get an updated eye exam, doc delivered bad news. If I stay on the same route by the age of 25 I will be blind my prescription has changed from a mere -1.75 so a severe -3.50 in the course of 2 years. My eye cannot get oxygen with contacts in them, causing broken blood vessels in my cornea! JUST DONT SLEEP IN CONTACTS, IS IT WORTH BEING BLIND. My life has totally changed with this.

I had a college acquaintance who did this same thing.

She is never able to wear contacts again and did nearly go blind.

I disagree with most answers. I have been wearing Focus Night & Day for a couple of years. I wear them for 30 days w/out taking them out. If I had to do all that stuff at night, it wouldn't be worth wearing the other kind. I also like to see the t.v. when I go to bed. And, I hate glasses. Here is some information from the manufacturer: "Focus NIGHT & DAY ® soft contact lenses are designed to allow for up to 30 days and nights of continuous extended wear. CIBA Vision has designed this lens to allow for six times more oxygen transmission than ordinary disposable contact lenses. Made with silicone hydrogel." If you have ever worn contacts, you can tell when there is buildup on the lenses. With these, you don't have that.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Dixie,

I have been sleeping w/ contacts in for awhile now... I change them when I remember too, but nothing severe has happpened. My eyes actually got better going from a -1.75 to a -.75...