I took them out as soon as I got up and washed my eyes out with eye drops. I've been wearing my glasses all morning (they don't work as well as my contacts anyway), but my vision is still a bit blurry and I feel a tad woozy. Is this something I can wait it out or go see my eye doctor?
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Yeah, you can wait it out. This is one reason I stopped wearing contacts after I had Ems (besides my prescription changed); I was always falling asleep in them. Drink lots of water, use eyedrops as necessary, don't put them back in until you feel better, and call the eye doctor if you still have blurry vision in four or five hours.
Posted by Mrs.M (Member # 2943) on :
Thank goodness. This actually wasn't Aerin-related. Well, not directly. I just wanted to read in bed for a little bit. Andrew told me that he tried unsuccessfully to wake me 3 times, so I guess I needed the sleep.
Thanks, kq. You always know what to do!
Posted by beverly (Member # 6246) on :
I slept in my contacts and ended up having to go to the emergency room because when I removed them, part of my cornea went with them. :shudder:
That was some severe pain. I'm glad that didn't happen to you here, Mrs. M. Hopefully you will be fine.
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
If you have any commercial eye lubricant, like systane or even just saline solution , apply a couple drops frequently (not just once). It helps rehydrate your eyes.
AJ
(or what kq said)
Posted by cmc (Member # 9549) on :
My eyes just started hurting with sympathy... Did you get the rainbow halo around everything?
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
The big issue with sleeping in your contacts is lack of oxygen (which can do that creepy cornea thing). Another issue: allergies. You can exacerbate allergies that you have (maybe that you didn't know about). I'd wear your glasses for today and in addition to the lubricating eyedrops, use some allergy drops once or twice just in case.
I have slept in my contacts many a time without taking any aftercare steps (which is why I switched to extended wear). Eyes are pretty resiliant critters.
-pH
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
quote:Originally posted by beverly: I slept in my contacts and ended up having to go to the emergency room because when I removed them, part of my cornea went with them. :shudder:
That was some severe pain. I'm glad that didn't happen to you here, Mrs. M. Hopefully you will be fine.
*winces* That's the reason before I took them out after sleeping in them, I always used HypoTears first. Ouch.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Huh. I used to sleep in mine all the time with no ill effects.
Now I have ones that are designed to be worn for 30 days without being removed, and I love them.
Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
quote:Now I have ones that are designed to be worn for 30 days without being removed, and I love them.
I got those as well, but when I wake up in them, my vision is blurred, my eyes feel scratchy and uncomfortable, and I always end up yanking them out.
A big waste of money, really.
Niki sleeps in her contacts all the time (by accident), and I haven't seen her have any ill effects. She just rinses them, and puts them back in.
My biggest problem with contacts is that when I am sitting in front of a computer screen (which I do for 12+ hours a day, between work and home), my vision loses focus. It feels like my eyes got lazy and start to drift apart, and so I have to snap them back to focus every few minutes.
It was really distracting, and so I stopped wearing them all together.
My vision is 20/30, so I don't really need them. Now I just put them in for tennis. (I see the ball much sooner with them in) The only other time I miss them is when driving, especially at night. My night vision is terrible without the contacts.
I should probably get another eye exam soon, and bring up my concern with the doctor. I'm sure he's heard my complaint before.
Has anyone else had similar problems when using a computer with contacts?
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
Xavier, you might have allergies too.
I have really bad allergies. I finally caved and decided to give my eyes a break for a couple of days. They're still itchy. Time for Claratin and Naphcon A. Then the contacts go back in. I wear them pretty much constantly. I changed brands about six months ago though, and I think I might want to try a different one....I think I might just be having more issues with this new brand.
-pH
Posted by Tide (Member # 724) on :
quote:Originally posted by rivka: Huh. I used to sleep in mine all the time with no ill effects.
Now I have ones that are designed to be worn for 30 days without being removed, and I love them.
Same here.
I've been wearing contacts for a little over 13 years and I sleep in them quite frequently with no irritation. I remember the blurry vision thing the first few times I slept in them but if you leave them in or use some drops within a few hours it should go away.
Anyway, don't be too worried it's quite common. If you do it too much(like me) you might end up developing astigmatism, then you have to get special weighted contacts.
Posted by Mrs.M (Member # 2943) on :
Oh my, beverly! You just gave me the cautionary tale that will ensure that I never sleep in contacts again.
I have astigmatisms in both eyes. It's not bad enough in my left for special contacts, but I wear toric lenses in my right. My eyes are light green, so I have to wear contacts when I drive because I'm blind without my sunglasses. My vision is pretty much back to normal and I put a new pair of contacts in at noon and was fine (I have the 2-week disposables). I still feel a teeny bit woozy, but I think that might be because I was bleacing Aerin's toys earlier.
Fortunately, I don't have allergies, except to dust and mold. Since I don't allow either in my house, that's not a problem. It's something that's very helpful while househunting - if the house is clean and I'm sneezing and my eyes are running, there's a mold problem.
Posted by Troubadour (Member # 83) on :
I also have the 30 day keeper-innerers. (say it out loud, it'll make more sense).
The Bausch & Lomb PureVision are jut awesome. Since I've started to wear these the veins that had started to grow into my eyes from normal contact wear have receded back to almost pre-contact status and my eyesight has improved in both eyes. In fact, they're both now the same script, which is super-handy.
My eyes don't produce much gunk when I sleep, so I have a few moments of blurry-scratchy before slapping my face with water and all is good.
Love. it. to. death.
Posted by SoaPiNuReYe (Member # 9144) on :
I got two week disposable contacts, and I've slept in them before. All that happened was that I woke up, took them out, and left them out for the first half of the day.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
Just make sure to hydrate your eyes before removing them if this happens again. Lack of moisture is what did her in, I bet.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
I started wearing contacts 22 years ago, but in the last, um, six or eight years, I started having problems with headaches and inability to focus with close-up work (I'm near-sighted). I ended up going off contacts altogether and now wear my glasses only when I actually need them for distance, ie tv or going out. Otherwise, I don't wear them at all. My eyes hurt much, much less and I don't have the focus problems.
But then, my eyes also went from -2.75 to -0.75 in the last five years, too. And then there's the whole cataract thing. I have pretty odd eyes, I'm thinkin'. Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
quote:Originally posted by quidscribis: I have pretty odd eyes, I'm thinkin'.
You mean, to match the rest of you? *ducks and runs*
Posted by Fitz (Member # 4803) on :
When I wear contacts, I wear dailies. I've lost so many of them that I don't dare switch to anything more permanent (expensive). I've only ever kept them in overnight after coming home too wasted to take them out. No ill effects as of yet, other than itchy eyes.
Posted by hansenj (Member # 4034) on :
Question out of curiosity: Mrs. M, why does it make it hard for you to see in the sun without sunglasses because of your light green eyes? Can the same thing happen for blue, or is it just green? I'm wondering because I've always thought my eyes were particularly sensitive to the sun in a similar fashion, and my eyes are blue.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
Blue is one of the worst, really. The lack of pigmentation in the eye affects sight, and makes bright light harder to bear.
Posted by hansenj (Member # 4034) on :
That makes sense to me, thanks! I squint a lot in sunshine, and it's very hard for me to have pictures taken of me in direct sunlight (hence, most of my wedding pictures were taken in the shade). Also, I get what I call "sun headaches" after a very short time outside without sunglasses. And I got glasses a little while back, and it seemed to get worse when I went outside when I was wearing them. Interesting!
Posted by Celaeno (Member # 8562) on :
I have those gas permeable ones. I've only slept in them once by accident. I woke up at 5:30 in the morning.
My first thought was, "Oh, wow! I can see! This is great!"
This was quickly interrupted by the unimaginable pain and the tears streaming down my face.
I wore glasses for the rest of the day, and there were no permanent ill-effects.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Cataracts apparently make the sun sensitivity even worse.
kq, no need to run. I know I'm weird. Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by quidscribis: Cataracts apparently make the sun sensitivity even worse.
Yup.
Posted by Vadon (Member # 4561) on :
I use the disposable you can sleep in as well. I had problems with one brand where my eyes (Well, just my left one.) would gunk up during allergy season. It made the contacts really itchy and I ended up taking them out when I'd get home from school.
Now I'm on this different brand where I really don't notice much between having them in and out.
But from your story, I decided to take my contacts out tonight. Pretty scary stuff. (I was two weeks overdue on a change anyways. Whoops.) But pulling them out had no ill-effect.
Posted by Mrs.M (Member # 2943) on :
hansenj, people with lighter color eyes also tend to have larger pupils. My daughter has blue eyes and she is very sensitive to light. She won't wear sunglasses yet, so she just hides her face or squints. My husband, on the other hand, has brown eyes and never wears sunglasses.
I can see in the dark, though, which comes in handy.
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
I never knew that! I have usually blue eyes, although one day I went in to the eye doctor and they said, "You have the palest grey eyes we've ever seen!" And I'm very, very sensitive to light.
Edit: Although I do burst into flames when I go out in the sunlight.....
-pH
Posted by stihl1 (Member # 1562) on :
You're going to have to cut your eyes out now. Sorry.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
quote:Originally posted by pH: I do burst into flames when I go out in the sunlight.....
Me too. And I have dark brown eyes.
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
quote:My first thought was, "Oh, wow! I can see! This is great!"
I do that! I wake up and think, "Oh! It's a miracle! I can SEE!"
...and then I remember that I didn't take out my contacts.
I used to sleep in mine all the time and apparently, contacts (when slept in and not meant to be) can cause a lack of oxygen to the eye. And apparently, this makes the eye Very Angry.
You don't want to do that.
I once angered my left eye. I was doing a school-to-work thing at a hospital (oddly enough, scrubbing in to watch eye surgery) and ended up with a staph infected corneal ulcer. The eye doc was surprised that I could see with the ulcer because he could see it with his bare eyes. That, apparently, isn't very common.
Anyway, this was followed by conjunctivitis.
And that was followed by a mysterious appearance of an abundance of white blood cells in my left eye. I wasn't allowed to wear contacts again until the cells had migrated out.
So a year later, I was allowed to wear contacts again.
You can fall asleep with them in once and awhile, for naps and such. It's consistently falling asleep with 'em in that leads to problems.
Oh, and if you slept in them, don't take them out right away. O_O because you'll end up taking cells with it (or in pooka's case, part of your cornea). Use your saline solution or contact rewetting drops and with a washed finger, wiggle 'em around a bit. More solution or drops, more wiggling until the contact can move freely. Then take the contact out. It won't hurt nearly as bad and usually not at all. Your eye will still be a bit tearing and feel odd, might be some stinging. Wearing glasses for awhile before you put contacts back in lets your eyes get some more oxygen to them.
So yeah, I learned my lesson the hard way.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
It also depends what kind of contacts you have. Disposables are generally thinner, and therefore block less oxygen from the eye. So falling asleep in those (whisper: or even wearing them non-stop for a few days) is unlikely to cause much in the way of problems.
Low-moisture v. high-moisture makes a big difference as well, and so does brand -- some are simply thicker or less permeable than others.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by rivka: Huh. I used to sleep in mine all the time with no ill effects.
Now I have ones that are designed to be worn for 30 days without being removed, and I love them.
I used to sleep with mine in for 1-2 months at a time without changing them. Of course when I woke up they were alittle funny for like a minute but they lined up fine.
Occasionally out of the blue I'd wear glasses to give my eyes a break but it was more a superstition then anything concrete that I needed. Two summers ago my parents offered to pay for laser eye surgery and I jumped on it, I've never looked back I love it!
Though when I watched the Simpsons and the eye doctor says the long term side effects are unknown to Ned Flanders and his eyes crust over I got the heeby jeebies.
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Dont Know]](graemlins/dontknow.gif)
And then there's the whole cataract thing. I have pretty odd eyes, I'm thinkin'. ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
I love it!