Extended Wear Contact Lenses
Extended wear risks Extended wear contact lenses may be the right option for you if you would like to wake up each day with clear vision.
Contact lenses are available for two different wear schedules:
- Daily wear (you remove them before sleeping)
- Extended wear (you leave them in overnight)
Extended wear lenses allow more oxygen to reach your cornea.
Most extended wear lenses are FDA approved to be worn without removal for up to seven days. A newer type of soft contact lens material, silicone hydrogel, is considered "super-permeable," and some lenses made from this material are approved for up to 30 days of wear without removal.
Also, some gas permeable lenses can be worn for up to a month at a time. This 30-day type of extended wear lens sometimes is called "continuous wear."
After recent improvements in design and materials, these lenses now can be worn safely for the full 30 days for those who can tolerate them. Even if you don't feel comfortable wearing the lenses for the full time period, you still can change them out at extended wear intervals that best suit you.
Problems With Earlier Versions of Extended Wear Contacts
For a brief time period, extended wear contact lenses were out of favor with eye care practitioners because of the increased risk of eye infections associated with overnight wear.
The FDA first approved certain contact lenses for overnight wear in 1981. These lenses were approved for up to two weeks of wear without removal. Shortly thereafter, some lenses were approved for up to 30 days of continuous wear.
Researchers found, however, that the incidence of eye infections was greater among people who slept while wearing contact lenses. In response, the FDA changed the maximum extended wear period to seven days.
However, many eyecare practitioners decided that any overnight wear was too risky, and they began encouraging patients to always remove their contacts before sleep, even if the lenses were FDA-approved for extended wear.
Extended wear lenses are a concern because potentially dangerous organisms, which might enter your eye from your fingers or other means, could become lodged under your lenses.
These organisms thrive in the warm, moist environment under your contact lenses. And because contact lenses reduce the oxygen supply to your cornea, your eye is less able to fight off infection from bacteria, fungi and other organisms.
Contact lens-related infections can range from an annoying case of pink eye to more serious conditions — even some that can lead to blindness. When contact lenses remain in your eyes continuously for several days, the risk of these problems increases.