Do you like to see how long you can make your contact lenses last?

If you answered yes, the picture shown here is why your eye care professional may scold you. I know, I know, I should have warned you about the photo. This is a mean corneal ulcer that can be caused by guess what? Over wearing your contact lenses!

In today's economy, we are all trying to save money somewhere right? I get that, but trust me trying to stretch out your contact lens supply is NOT the way to do it!

With so many different kinds of contact lenses out there and with several modality options, it is important for you to know what type you are wearing. The most common modalities are two week disposable lenses, monthly disposable lenses and daily disposable lenses. The two week lenses (ex. ALL Acuvue products are two weeks) and the monthly lenses (example Air Optix or Focus) can be broken down a little further. Some of those lenses can be worn on an extended basis (over night) and some cannot. This is another important distinction to make: are your lenses approved to be worn on an extended wear basis? When I say approved, I mean approved by the FDA, yes that is right, the FDA. If you don't know the answer to this question, I can help you! Just ask.

Now let's talk a little bit about what can happen to your eyes if you are wearing your contacts too long. One of the main issues is the fact that anytime you have a medical device (a contact lens is considered to be a medical device) on your eye, you are decreasing the amount of oxygen that is getting to the cornea.Your cornea, which is the clear part of the eye (where the contact lens sits) is a very unique tissue. It is unique in the sense that there is no blood supply. When the brain senses that there is not enough oxygen getting to the cornea, it will stimulate the production of new blood vessels to deliver oxygen to the cornea. This is called corneal neovascularization. A big word that really just means new blood vessel growth. This is bad because corneal neovascularization can cause scarring and lead to permanent vision loss (in severe cases).

The longer you keep those contact lenses on, the higher your chance for developing neovascularization. It doesn't stop there either! Think about it, sleeping in your lenses night after night, wearing them continuously day after day without removing them is creating a breeding ground for bacteria. Nice thought right? As you can see from the picture, it's not a pretty site either! Bacteria can get trapped underneath the contact lens and will essentially start eating their way through the cornea leaving a very painful ulcer. This can cause vision loss in some patients. It really depends on the severity and the location of the ulcer.

Have I made you think a little? My goal here is not to scare you away from contact lenses; they are great when worn as recommended by your eye care professional. In fact, I have mine on right now. We really aren't trying to be the bad guys. We just want to prevent your eyes from looking like the one in the picture shown here!

Thanks for reading!

Keeping an Eye You,

Betsy W. Fraser, O.D.