Thursday, August 28, 2008
It’s past one in the morning, and your eyes feel like someone’s burning a hole in them with a laser. As you peel your contacts out—dried out after 18 hours of wear—you rack your brain to try to remember the last time you threw out that old pair and put a fresh set in. Was it two weeks ago? Three weeks? Or was it six?
The effects of wearing your contacts for longer than the recommended time may not be noticeable at first, but make it a habit and you risk serious damage to your eyes. Brent Crandon, Lawrence optometrist, says the area of the eye where contact lenses are worn is one of the few areas of the body that has no direct blood supply. Because of this, the tissue in the eye needs exposure to fresh air to survive. Contacts do allow oxygen to pass to the eye, but the older they get, the less oxygen they let through.
Crandon says an eye that doesn’t receive enough oxygen can begin to swell. In some cases, fragile blood vessels that bleed easily grow across the entire eyeball.
The lack of oxygen also weakens the eye and opens it up to infection. Some people develop a corneal ulcer, an infection in which bacteria eat away at the eye. Crandon says a corneal ulcer will feel like a huge speck of dirt under the contact and will make the eye red and irritated. Eyes with corneal ulcers will also become sensitive to light and will often discharge mucus. Crandon says people who leave corneal ulcers untreated risk losing their eyesight within three to four days.
So, how many weeks has it been since you’ve changed your contacts? Can’t remember? Then it’s probably time to ditch them.
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Comments
That's disgusting: old contact lenses
I have the same problems, I often go past the 2 weeks recommended of my disposable contacts and have to keep reminding myself to throw them away. With all the eye infections I read on http://www.eyecaresource.com/contact-lenses/ about contact lenses I have taken it more seriously and have added into my calendar.
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