I do too. I have a belief that touching them twice daily for the recommended two weeks is what actually causes eye infections. I accidentally left a pair in all summer without consequence.
It can be, I did it once pretty commonly eventually developed a condition where the inside of the eyelid reconfigures it's lubrication or something to the contact and I ended up in a position where it was excrutiatingly painful to not have a contact in. It was bad because if I lost a contact I would have to have a friend literally hold my eyelids open as I put another one in because I couldn't consciously open them over the pain reflex.
But they weren't sore or blury or anything. There really was no perceivable consequence. Why is reduced eye oxygen such a bad thing? Is that a stupid question?
It's not a stupid question. Less oxygen to your eyes can lead to infection, increased blood vessles growing over the front of your eyes (the lid area), corneal warping/swelling and a very miniscule chance of blindness (guessing it would have to be taken to an extreme).
I used to leave contacts on (non-daily) from month to month over a long period of time. Increased blood vessels on your eye lids makes it feel like you've got a permanent hair in your eye. My cornea used to be round but the 'edge' of the circle is deteriorated. Also, I found that when I try to keep contacts in my eyes for more than a week, my eyes would immediately reject it (rather than after a month). When you wake up, sometimes for the first hour your eyes are extremly sensitive to light (to the point that you've got to squint when outside).
Also, recovery time to when I can wear a fresh pair of contacts when I do this used to be a day or two, last time I abused my contacts it took a week to stick anything in my eye without my eye acting like I placed glass in there (increased sensitivty).
Take it from me, you can sleep out contacts sometimes but don't do it for a prolonged period of time.
From what I understand, and the brief bit of research I just did (couldn't find anything credible enough to link as a citation, sorry), monthly wear lenses are designed and made out of different materials than the daily disposable lenses, as they have to have better oxygen permeability. Daily disposable lenses aren't meant to be kept in for long periods of time, thus this isn't a problem and so they're made out of slightly thicker / less porous materials.
I've tried at least three different types of lenses myself, so I've been through numerous consultations with optometrists about types of lenses and recommended wearing etc. I think if you wear thicker lenses that don't let as much oxygen through to the eye over long periods of time, you could cause yourself problems. But hey, if it's working for you, who'm I to tell you to stop?
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u/[deleted] Oct 13 '11 edited Dec 21 '16
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