Leaving your contact lenses in for too long can cost you your eyesight in the long run. Having worn daily wear soft lenses for about 15 years, I know too well the feeling of being warm and snug on the couch and drifting into sleep, not wanting or caring to take the time to traipse to the bathroom; scrape each lens off of my eye; rub each side for up to 20 seconds in disinfectant; and store them in their case filled with fresh solution. I would usually think to myself, well, I'll just "rest" my eyes for a few minutes, then get up and slip them out before I'm completely out for the night. Of course, what usually happened was I found myself waking the next morning with my lenses still in, my vision slightly blurry at first and my eyes stinging mildly. I could instinctively feel my eyes crying out for oxygen, but I didn't remove the lenses because... well, I had a new day ahead of me, and I needed to see! I knew sleeping in regular soft lenses wasn't technically a good idea, but I didn't realize that doing it regularly could actually permanently damage or even destroy my vision to the point of blindness, among other unpleasant side effects such as bacterial infection, corneal abrasions and ulcers.
I didn't become truly concerned about my lazy habit until one morning, while putting my lenses in, I happened to notice dark red blood vessels traveling in odd straight vertical lines on the white of my eyes toward my cornea. They were unlike the twisty-turny vessels a person can usually see on their eyes after a night of downing Goldschlager shots. After a little research, I was enlightened that the odd, dark vessels were the result of depriving my eyes -- specifically the outer and inner iris region -- of oxygen for extended periods by leaving my regular wear lenses in for much too long. The scary vessels were created by my smothered iris's effort to breathe, and they extended to the areas of my eyes that weren't covered by a lens to transport oxygen to the covered portion. I learned that even when people sleep with their lenses out, their eyes normally get some oxygen through their slits, but obviously nowhere nearly as much as during waking hours when their eyes are fully open. That's why leaving your lenses in for so long, specifically while asleep, is so bad for the eyes, because there's virtually no way for the eyes to breathe.
There are fortunately some great contacts designed for extended wear, made by companies such as Pure Vision and Air Optix, which can be left in continuously for anywhere from one week to 30 days. These lenses are made of more porous material (such as silicon hydrogel) than regular soft lenses and allow much more oxygen to reach the covered cornea of the eyes. Indeed, I myself made the switch to Air Optix Night and Day lenses and have found that after two years, I can fall asleep at night without having to trek to the bathroom and awake the next morning instantly seeing clearly and my eyes feeling just as refreshed as the rest of my body. The dark vessels on my eyes from my wreckless daily lens days have gradually paled and nearly disappeared, and I believe in another six months to a year of wearing extended wear lenses they will be completely gone!
I strongly recommend all my fellow contact wearers to either clean and store their daily wear lenses properly or look into extended wear contacts. Believe me, your eyes will thank you!
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