It is always preferable to have a contacts-less sleep whether during the night or even having a small nap. The current topic that questions, “What Happens When You Sleep With Your Contacts Every Night?” is sure to spell issues related to the tendency.
The current article has been developed on this instinct to know and to further delve into the consequences of sleeping with contacts all through the night, ‘every night’ as specified in the question. It ultimately seeks to identify the applicable remedies to solve the issues caused by the sleeping-with-contacts tendency.
The Risks Of Sleeping With Your Contacts In Every Night
Like it was mentioned above, you are not the least supposed to wear contacts even when you are taking a short nap. This is because a brief dozing for 1-2 hours and more than once is enough to make your eyes feel somewhat dry.
Now, if you intend to sleep with them every night, this will count on the risks for you to develop severe eye infections, which per sources, are 6-8 times higher.
Nonetheless, being aware of this very fact and the type and likelihood of the infections that this tendency will cause would be more than enough for you, the contact lens wearer, to avoid going to sleep at night with them, even for a small and brief nap, not to mention sleeping every night with contacts on!
Consequences Of Sleeping With Contacts Every Night
There are innumerable consequences awaiting one if one intends to go to bed while still wearing contacts. Apart from the dryness and resultant infection, this will lead to, the possibility of developing advanced eye disease from thereon cannot be excluded in the least possible manner.
Having stated so, some of the following have been listed as the side (ill) effects of sleeping with contacts.
➜ Corneal Infection
This increases every time you sleep with your contact lenses. Cornea, the clear layer, that protects the colored part of your eye, gets infected due to repeated contact lens usage during sleep. Prolonged infection is enough to cause corneal damage and the resultant loss of vision.
➜ Microbial Keratitis
Also featuring corneal inflammation, the risk of contracting Microbial Keratitis is five times higher even if you have slept with your contact lens for a single night. You can now imagine the extent of risk you are at when sleeping with them every night!
➜ Bacterial Keratitis
Corneal inflammation happens due to bacterial infection in the case of bacterial keratitis. If unattended to, or untreated, this can lead to partial or complete blindness. Again, this happens when contacts are left on your eye overnight.
Further consequences left to imagine and even face due to prolonged wearing every night, can include more than one type of bacterial infestation (Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus) which are enough to cause vision loss.
➜ Acanthamoeba Keratitis
A type of infection caused by amoeba affects the cornea again! It affects 85% of contact lens users, especially when they do not maintain proper hygiene of their contact lenses. Also wearing them while swimming, showering, or sleeping with them every night is sure to increase the risk of contracting this eye disease.
Scraping/scratching your eyes mistakenly or due to contact lens wear will cause the organism to enter your eyes, The habitual wearing of contact lenses at night is sure to make Acanthamoeba keratitis to reduce the oxygen in your cornea, which then loses its ability to protect itself from such microorganisms.
➜ Fungal Keratitis
Wearing contact lenses every night needlessly causes the cornea to be inflamed by various fungal organisms. While mild infections can be treated with antifungal medicines, severe cases will require a corneal transplant.
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Remedies For Issues Related To Sleeping With Contacts
There is no natural remedy other than treating the infected cornea with medicines or surgery as deemed appropriate for mild and advanced infections respectively. Thus, it would be in the best interest of a contact lens wearer like you to remove them before going to sleep at night or when taking a short nap. Also, do not forget to keep your lenses in a clean solution when not using them.
Conclusion
Based on what has been discussed above, it could be easily concluded that wearing contact lenses when sleeping every night is inappropriate and makes your eyes, especially your cornea highly susceptible to infection, inflammation, and resultant vision loss.
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