Are you guilty of this?
Even if you don’t wear contact lenses, everyone has a friend who has come home after a night out and been too tired/drunk/forgetful to take their contacts out before their head hits the pillow.
While it’s quite obviously not a good idea to do it, we’re not sure some contact lens wearers understand the extent of it.
According to the U.S Centers for Diseases and Control Prevention, one in five contact lens-related infections resulted in serious and even permanent damage to the eye.
This includes scarring, corneal ulcers, and even blindness.
One in four reported infections of people who wear contact lenses are completely avoidable and occur from people failing to remove the lenses or people reusing cleansing solution.
Sleeping with your contact lenses in can make the risk of infection 6 times more likely.
Another risk many people are opening themselves up to is a lack of oxygen to your cornea. This can cause hypoxia which in turn causes new growth of blood vessels. This can result in vision loss.
Eye doctor Rebecca Taylor is a spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology, who spoke to the Huffington Post about the risks.
“It’s like having a plastic bag over your head when you sleep.”
She said, adding:
“It’s not ideal for oxygen exchange.”
If all that wasn’t worrying enough, last year, a Cincinnati man shared his story of going blind after prolonged use of his lenses.
All of the information above should be reason enough for you to never go to be with your contact lenses in again.
