Here’s the answer to the question ‘Can I nap with contact lenses in?’
There are plenty of myths about what happens if you go napping with contact lenses in. Even top quality contact lenses could cause problems if you fall asleep while wearing them – so just taking a nap is a No-No.
What about all those weird and wacky stories? Are any of them real?
Some of them are funny, some are believable and some are straight out bonkers.
The Science of your eyes
If you’re asking ‘Can I nap with my contact lenses in?’ then listen to this scientific and medically backed information and don’t even think about ignoring it or calling it ‘Fake News’.
There’s a true story of the man who wore contact lenses for two days straight, then heard a ‘pop’ when he wiped his eyes and was in horrible pain is true.
It turned out he had an ulcer from a really bad bacterial infection. He needed an emergency corneal transplant to save his vision.
An infection like that can cause an abscess that can actually burst and that’s the ‘popping’ sound before a gush of awful stuff.
That awful tale is just one of six presented in a CDC Report (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) published Dec 2018 in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.
Waaaayyy too many people sleep or nap with their contact lenses in. The statistics are scary with one in three people who wear contacts go to sleep in them.
Sometimes, it’s just down to being too lazy to take them out at night.
It can be easy for someone who doesn’t wear contact lenses all the time to fall into the trap of sleeping or napping with contact lenses in. That’s especially true for those wearing coloured contacts.
Your eyes need to breathe
You might be thinking that the idea your ‘eyes need to breathe’ is some kind of joke.
It’s no joke when you suffer from a terrible eye infection and just napping with contact lenses still in raises your risk of eye infections up to 8 times higher.
It is your corneas that need to breathe (that’s the clear outer layer of your eye and focuses the light so you can see clearly). Each cornea gets it's oxygen from the atmosphere. Sleeping in contact lenses stops your cornea from getting the air it needs to breathe and stay healthy.
You wouldn’t risk not getting enough air, but that’s what you are doing to your eyes if you sleep or snooze with contacts in.
How long is too long to keep contact lenses in?
There is a reason that like food, contact lenses come with a use-by date and special instructions.
If you have daily contact lenses – then you are only supposed to wear them for a single day. That’s why they’re called DAILY contact lenses. Geez!
If you have monthly lenses, then store them properly in sterile solution and use them for up to a month but no longer. You aren’t getting ‘added value’ from continued use. You’re risking eye trouble FFS! (that’s Frankly Fairly Silly).
Even high quality contacts and coloured lenses should only be worn according to their instructions.
But sleeping or taking a nap is a different, isn’t it? The answer is a big fat NO!
You might be thinking that having a quick snooze or napping with contact lenses is not a big deal. The truth is that you can still irritate your eyes and cause damage to them. Even a nap in daily contact lenses is a bad idea and that’s where you are going to throw the lenses away the same day.
Why is it bad? Because your eyes aren’t able to breathe, remember!
If you actually fall asleep and go into a phase of REM – (no, not the band!) – your eyes will be moving around behind closed lids and that only makes matters worse.
Anything that is in your eye or around the edges of your eyelids will be trapped and that’s a recipe for a full dose of infection.
One doctor of optometry put it best – “If you’re sleeping in your contact lenses, you need to stop.”
What if you fall asleep while wearing your contact lenses?
Here are a few key tips to help you:
- Make sure you wait a few minutes before trying to take out your contact lenses.
- Use rewetting drops if need to. Hydrated lenses should be easier to remove.
- Put your lenses in their special solution and don’t put them back in your eyes for at least a few hours. Only use the contacts again if you’re sure your eyes look and feel normal.
- Make it a routine before you go to sleep to check you’re not still wearing lenses.
- Don’t be so ‘out of it’ that you don’t remember you’ve got contact lenses or that you’re wearing them.
Try keeping your contact case by your bed if you’re heading out for the night – even putting it on your pillow. That will remind you to take out your lenses before you go to sleep.
Check your eyes before beddy-byes
Try to make it a habit to check your eyes in the mirror maybe while you brush your teeth. That way, you’ll see if you’re still wearing your contacts and how good or bad you look.
Remember, whenever you are about to doze off – ask yourself - Can I nap with my contact lenses in?
No, no, no! You won’t die by sleeping or napping with contact lenses in, but infections are nasty.
Keep them clean and sterile. You know now that you shouldn’t sleep or nap while you’re wearing them, so don’t.
Have fun with your lenses, choose a cool pair or two of great coloured contacts for yourself and do the right thing. Life needs a bit of pizazz in it. Don’t sleep it away.
Head to MesmerEyez, get yourself some top coloured contact lenses and enjoy a new side of life.
Wake up and get a great new look from MesmerEyez.