Why you should NEVER sleep with your contact lenses in, according to an optometrist
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Warning: This article contains disturbing images.
Are any of our members here regular wearers of contact lenses? Then we bet this scenario also feels a bit too familiar to you…
It's been a long day, and you're just too tired to remove your contact lenses before bed. You tell yourself you'll take them off in a bit, but for now, you're just going to lay down for a while – just to rest your eyes, of course – but then you wake up and realise it's already morning! Whoops!
While this might not seem like a big deal (what harm could a few extra hours wearing your lenses do?), the truth is that leaving them in overnight can have some pretty damaging consequences for your eyesight.
Don't believe us? Just ask this optometrist from California who recently went viral after sharing disturbing footage of a patient who had neglected to remove her contact lenses for 23 consecutive nights.
Yes, you read that correctly, folks… 23 nights! How did that even happen?
A woman forgot to remove her contact lenses before going to sleep. Credit: BC Doctors of Optometry.
In the video, which has now been viewed over 1 million times on social media, Dr Katerina Kurteeva can be seen using an eye dye called Flourox to help identify hidden contacts lodged underneath her patient's eyelid.
And trust us when we say there were plenty; by the end of the examination, Kurteeva had found and removed 23 individual lenses from her patient's eye!
'I could see a huge, dark-purple blob of contact lenses stuck to her eye. It almost looked like a second pupil,' said the doctor.
'I gently started using a Q-tip to peel the lenses apart one by one, like you would deal a deck of cards. They were coming out in a chain, drooping down her lid.'
She even joked that she might have just set a new Guinness World Record for most forgotten contacts pulled from one eye. 'In nearly 20 years of practice, I had never seen anything like it,' she added.
According to Dr Kurteeva, the patient was really lucky. If the condition had been allowed to persist for much longer, she might have suffered an infection, corneal scratching, or even total blindness.
The woman, thankfully, did not have to deal with any long-term consequences. 'I saw her a month after the examination, and she was doing really well, feeling much more comfortable and seeing clearly.'
While the patient in question was definitely an extremely rare case, it just goes to show the dangers of leaving your lenses in overnight. Without proper cleaning and care, contacts can cause everything from infections and corneal abrasions to serious long-term damage to your vision.
So, members, if you wear contact lenses, be sure to remove them before bed and give your eyes a break. Your vision will thank you for it in the long run!
And while we're still talking about how to use contact lenses properly, here are a few recommended practices you should follow to make sure you don't put yourself in danger.
Credit: Eyes Explained.
Are any of our members here regular wearers of contact lenses? Then we bet this scenario also feels a bit too familiar to you…
It's been a long day, and you're just too tired to remove your contact lenses before bed. You tell yourself you'll take them off in a bit, but for now, you're just going to lay down for a while – just to rest your eyes, of course – but then you wake up and realise it's already morning! Whoops!
While this might not seem like a big deal (what harm could a few extra hours wearing your lenses do?), the truth is that leaving them in overnight can have some pretty damaging consequences for your eyesight.
Don't believe us? Just ask this optometrist from California who recently went viral after sharing disturbing footage of a patient who had neglected to remove her contact lenses for 23 consecutive nights.
Yes, you read that correctly, folks… 23 nights! How did that even happen?
A woman forgot to remove her contact lenses before going to sleep. Credit: BC Doctors of Optometry.
In the video, which has now been viewed over 1 million times on social media, Dr Katerina Kurteeva can be seen using an eye dye called Flourox to help identify hidden contacts lodged underneath her patient's eyelid.
And trust us when we say there were plenty; by the end of the examination, Kurteeva had found and removed 23 individual lenses from her patient's eye!
'I could see a huge, dark-purple blob of contact lenses stuck to her eye. It almost looked like a second pupil,' said the doctor.
'I gently started using a Q-tip to peel the lenses apart one by one, like you would deal a deck of cards. They were coming out in a chain, drooping down her lid.'
She even joked that she might have just set a new Guinness World Record for most forgotten contacts pulled from one eye. 'In nearly 20 years of practice, I had never seen anything like it,' she added.
According to Dr Kurteeva, the patient was really lucky. If the condition had been allowed to persist for much longer, she might have suffered an infection, corneal scratching, or even total blindness.
The woman, thankfully, did not have to deal with any long-term consequences. 'I saw her a month after the examination, and she was doing really well, feeling much more comfortable and seeing clearly.'
While the patient in question was definitely an extremely rare case, it just goes to show the dangers of leaving your lenses in overnight. Without proper cleaning and care, contacts can cause everything from infections and corneal abrasions to serious long-term damage to your vision.
So, members, if you wear contact lenses, be sure to remove them before bed and give your eyes a break. Your vision will thank you for it in the long run!
And while we're still talking about how to use contact lenses properly, here are a few recommended practices you should follow to make sure you don't put yourself in danger.
Credit: Eyes Explained.
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