And yes, that includes naps, too.
Hey look, no judgment — I do, too, sometimes.
And that's in spite of the fact that I'm a health editor and my dad is an eye doctor and my mom once basically gave herself two massive corneal abrasions when she fell asleep for a few hours on the beach with hard contacts in, and then hastily took them out when she woke up. Oopsies!
Let's just say that I should damn well know better.
And I basically do know better, or at least I thought I did. But then when Peggy, the editorial director here at BuzzFeed Life, asked me what the definitive ruling is on whether sleeping in your contacts is good or bad or meh, I wasn't totally sure. I mean, it's bad, I thought, definitely not advised by the medical community. And there was a girl who wore her contact lenses for six months straight and an amoeba ended up eating her eyes. But I wasn't sure if it was one of those things that's "bad" in theory but in practice won't actually cause any harm if you only do it every once in a while, and not all day every day and night for six months in a row. Right?
PS: That's not my eye up there.
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But then I was genuinely curious, so I reached out to the American Academy of Ophthalmology to see if they had an official answer, and maybe some stats. And they did!
Of course they did!
I spoke at length with Thomas Steinemann, M.D., clinical spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and professor of ophthalmology at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. And he had a lot to say about this!
Namely:
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Seriously do not sleep in your fucking contact lenses. You're just asking for trouble.
Not a direct quote, btw, but that's the gist. He was really adamant about it. In an understanding way, but also in a way that was like: Yo, really, STOP THAT, it's bad, and not just pretend-bad, but actually bad. And here's why:
"Sleeping in your contacts is a problem because the contact lens is made up of plastic and it impairs the oxygen flow to your cornea," he says. The cornea is the outer clear covering of the eye, and it's about as thick as a credit card. It has no blood flow, so it relies on the oxygen in the air. When you have a contact lens covering your eyeball for an extended period of time, that impedes the oxygen flow. (And when you have your contact lens + your closed eyelid all night... that impedes oxygen even more). And then this happens: "It alters the physiology of the eye," Steinemann says.
NOT SO GOOD. And that's not all. Because when you do that, you're then exposing a sensitive eyeball to a (let's be honest) super dirty contact lens. "No matter how careful you are, contact lenses get dirty, and get coated with protein and germs," he says. "In situations where you disrupt the physiology of the surface cells of the eye, you increase the binding ability of the germs already on the lens to bind to the cornea. And once they bind to the cornea, they can invade the cornea. And once they invade, that's when the keratitis starts."
FYI, keratitis is inflammation of the cornea. And it sucks, a lot lot.
Steinemann shared some stats that helped drive this point home.
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