“Is it bad to wear contacts every day?”
I am a 22 year old male. I want to know if it is bad to wear contacts every day?
7 Answers
Not a straight forward answer! Contacts are manufactured for daily use. That being said, it depends on the person wearing (age, use hours, activities- esp screen time, and environment, & any underlying conditions- esp dry eye) It takes personal contact to give a good answer.
Short answer: Soft contact lenses interfere with oxygen uptake by the cornea, so the more you wear them, the greater the risk of corneal oxygen deprivation (hypoxia) and consequent injury. You need to find the right balance between wearing them for your daily vision needs and protecting the eye to avoid complications. If you over-use your contact lenses, eventually (as you get older) it will become uncomfortable to wear contacts and you'll be stuck with the choice of glasses or refractive surgery.
Long answer: In order to remain clear - essential for good vision - the cornea cannot have blood vessels traversing it. So it needs a different way to get oxygen (it requires oxygen like any other living tissue in the body). When we are awake, the cornea relies primarily on oxygen in the air around us. When we sleep, it gets oxygen from the extensive capillary network that's on the underside of the eyelid. Rigid gas permeable contact lenses allow oxygen to pass through unhindered. But soft lenses, which are more comfortable and easier to fit, are only partially oxygen permeable. Much research and technology go into making soft contact lenses that maximize oxygen permeability, but it's still not the same as a bare eye. If you over-use contact lenses, the oxygen deprivation creates signals that tell the cells at the edges of the cornea to grow more blood vessels to deliver oxygen to the cornea. That's not good for vision and can cause long-term problems. And because the cornea relies on the palpebral conjunctiva capillary network for oxygenation when we sleep with our eyes closed, and this source has a lower oxygen tension than air, sleeping with contact lenses further reduces the oxygenation of the cornea. So ideally, if you want to be able to wear contacts for decades without issues then I recommend using daily disposable contact lenses (they are much thinner) and removing them at least 2 hours before you go to bed so that your cornea can recover and catch up on oxygenation prior to sleep.
Alon Kahana, M.D., Ph.D.
Kahana Oculoplastic & Orbital Surgery
Professor & Vice Chair of Ophthalmology
Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine
Website: DrKahana.com
Clinic: 248-800-1177
Fax: 248-800-1178
Long answer: In order to remain clear - essential for good vision - the cornea cannot have blood vessels traversing it. So it needs a different way to get oxygen (it requires oxygen like any other living tissue in the body). When we are awake, the cornea relies primarily on oxygen in the air around us. When we sleep, it gets oxygen from the extensive capillary network that's on the underside of the eyelid. Rigid gas permeable contact lenses allow oxygen to pass through unhindered. But soft lenses, which are more comfortable and easier to fit, are only partially oxygen permeable. Much research and technology go into making soft contact lenses that maximize oxygen permeability, but it's still not the same as a bare eye. If you over-use contact lenses, the oxygen deprivation creates signals that tell the cells at the edges of the cornea to grow more blood vessels to deliver oxygen to the cornea. That's not good for vision and can cause long-term problems. And because the cornea relies on the palpebral conjunctiva capillary network for oxygenation when we sleep with our eyes closed, and this source has a lower oxygen tension than air, sleeping with contact lenses further reduces the oxygenation of the cornea. So ideally, if you want to be able to wear contacts for decades without issues then I recommend using daily disposable contact lenses (they are much thinner) and removing them at least 2 hours before you go to bed so that your cornea can recover and catch up on oxygenation prior to sleep.
Alon Kahana, M.D., Ph.D.
Kahana Oculoplastic & Orbital Surgery
Professor & Vice Chair of Ophthalmology
Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine
Website: DrKahana.com
Clinic: 248-800-1177
Fax: 248-800-1178
It depends on the material that they are made of.
If the contacts fit well, are comfortable, and do not cause any problems - then you can wear them safely every day.
1. Give your eyes time to reoxygenate periodically.
2. Make sure that you do not overwear your contact lenses as that your eyes could dry out, become infected and worst-case scenario develop an ulcer.
2. Make sure that you do not overwear your contact lenses as that your eyes could dry out, become infected and worst-case scenario develop an ulcer.
If contact lenses are fit correctly and monitored if may be safe to wear every day. You should not sleep in contact lenses. Complete yearly eye examinations are critical to make sure your corneas remain healthy as well as the rest of your eye.
As long as you keep proper hygiene and use your contact lenses as instructed by your doctor there is no problem with wearing them every day.
