Is it okay to wear contact lenses overnight?

In life, there is always a group of lazy people. Many times, it is because of laziness that they get into big troubles or even suffer from serious diseases. Take myopic patients for example. If they choose contact lenses, they need to take them off every day and clean the bacteria with professional solutions. However, some people are very reluctant to take care of them because of laziness, and are even too lazy to take them off. So, is it okay to wear contact lenses overnight?

Sleeping with contact lenses can cause blindness

The Daily Mail reported that in the UK, at least 3 million people often wear contact lenses to sleep. This bad habit greatly increases the risk of blindness.

Dr. Simon Gilvington, a microbiologist at the University of Leicester in the UK, said that Pseudomonas aeruginosa and amoeba bacteria are common pathogens that cause keratitis. If people do not take off their contact lenses before going to bed, these bacteria are likely to multiply in large numbers at night, causing keratitis, which may lead to blindness in severe cases. It was found that many people often use tap water to wash contact lenses, and amoeba bacteria come from tap water, which causes more than 50 cases of keratitis in the UK every year. Another disadvantage of sleeping with contact lenses is that people are not sensitive to the discomfort caused by keratitis. Once they feel eye discomfort, the problem is often already quite serious.

There are many friends around us who wear glasses all night and sleep because of wearing them. Experts say that if you don't take your eyes off or wash them in time, or if you use tap water or tea water to wash them while traveling, it will cause eye inflammation. It is definitely not a good idea to wear glasses all night long. You must take them off before going to bed. It is best to change to frame glasses after returning home.

In addition to not wearing glasses to sleep, what other misunderstandings should we pay attention to?

Myth 1: No worries when wearing glasses after hydrating the eyes

To relieve dry eyes, most people with dry eyes like to carry eye drops with them. My eyes feel instantly cool after using this product, and the more I use it, the more addicted I become.

But this doesn't really solve the problem. When there is no ocular surface inflammation, eye drops containing antibiotics or hormones should not be used indiscriminately. Eye drops with a shelf life of up to a year or so must contain preservatives and can only be used occasionally in emergencies; if used for a long time, it will be very harmful to patients with dry eyes. Artificial tears are recommended.

Myth 2: Wearing contact lenses while applying mascara

Take off your glasses, put on contact lenses, apply thick mascara and colorful eye shadow... Many girls believe that only in this way can they truly reflect the value of the "invisible tribe".

Experts remind that it is best not to apply mascara, wear false eyelashes, or put on eye shadow when wearing contact lenses. If a foreign object falls between the contact lens and the eye and cannot be removed, friction may cause problems; the glue used for false eyelashes is also bad for contact lenses and eyes.

Myth 3: "High water content" means good quality

Ms. Xu has been wearing contact lenses with high water content, but she always feels dry eyes. In fact, no matter how good the quality of soft contact lenses is, it is impossible to achieve normal oxygen uptake capacity.

Many people believe that the softer the lens, the better, and some even think that the higher the water content of the lens, the better the quality. In fact, this is a huge misunderstanding. Contact lenses with high water content are also highly absorbent and will absorb tears, aggravating dry eye symptoms. Although they are comfortable to wear and have high oxygen permeability, they are prone to form lipid deposits such as protein and breed bacteria.