What could happen if you were contact lenses without taking them off.. for days.. sleep ect.?

I want to know if anything bad can happen if you would of done this

Thanks, Danny.

I would imagine that it would probably damage the retina and stuff like that. I would think that it would come hard and maybe like fall into the eye, I'm not sure. I found this link but it's not opening for me. You can give it a shot.
www.ncemi.org/cse/cse0211.htm

Thanks for your reply, but the link doesn't work.

Prolonged use without cleaning will cause massive amounts of protein deposits on your contact lens. Which will further cause irritation and bacterial infection.

This might lead to further complications and might also hinder your eye growth.

For extremely prolonged use, you should opt for contact lenses with very high oxygen content. So, that your eyes can breathe when you are using contacts.

I remember asking the optometrist of whatever he is called, and he recommended that I dont use them for over 10 or 12 hours continously. That I should wear my glasses after using them after 10 or 12 hours of continuous use. If I have for some reason to wear them longer, there are these drops of lubricating solution which I should use. Sure there are some contact lenses that allow you to sleep with the lenses but they are also more expensive and not recommended, because you should let your eyes take a break from the lenses. Overall, you should avoid wearing them for too long.

well, first of all, it's not really advisable for one to wear contact lenses too long. i have a time limit as to when i can wear my contact lenses. usually i could wear contact lenses for 12 hours maximum, but whenever my eyes get tired or feel dry, i need to take the lenses off. i've tried sleeping with my lenses on, but that was once, due to my carelessness. i was so tired, i fell asleep instantly, forgetting to remove the lenses. when i woke up like two to three hours later, i realized i still had the lenses on. i was happy i could still see. you wanna know why? because if you sleep with your contact lenses on, there's a chance that the lenses would slip behind your eyeball and you might not be able to remove it, and worse, you might not be able to see again. the reason why the lenses could slip behind your eyeball is because of REM. during sleep, there's a stage called Rapid-Eye movement (REM) where the eyes move in different directions. this will cause the lenses to move along with the cornea and could slip while the eyeball continues to move. i've heard someone here that almost lost her sight because of it.

with regards to prolong use, like what opaque said, you should allow your eyes to breathe. you should also let your tears do the job in re-wetting the eyes because wearing lenses too long will cause your eyes to dry. that's why it's one of the cliches "it's okay for you to cry" not because of showing weakness, but because it's helpful for your eyes. not only that it washes away the dirt, it also re-wets the eyes.

fyi, did you know that the cornea is the fastest healing part of our body? that's probably the best reason for you to take good care of your eyes especially when you're wearing contact lenses. contact lenses could damage the cornea while you wear it. although there are topical creams that would help in recovering the scratches made by the lenses, people could be allergic to some of these creams. and if used incorrectly, it might do more harm than good.

You woud serieusly damage your eyes if you do that, even if you have cheap contact lenses and dident see a doktor they coud do that.

They damage your eyes, be safe where glasses dont like it get a good model i gues or a laser threatment.

The ones above me already said what damage it could cause, but I again would like to remind you very much: be extremely careful with your eyes!! A little mistake with contact lenses can cause so much harm to your vision, and the latter is something you'll miss so much, and regret damaging O_O Your eyes are one of the most precious things you own

Special says that you should get your eyes lasered, but personally I don't recommend it yet. It's too new, and there's little known about the long term consequences. Glasses are really not that awful

OKay okay, I maybe going off on a bit of a tangent here, but I have always wondered some things.

I am short sighted, I have never had my eyes tested, but I can tell that I am. I should probably go over to this opticians sometime soon, and I have been planning it, but I have never got around to doing it. I was wondering about contact lenses, because the idea of glasses doesn't really appeal to me, infact its probably one of th reasons that I dont go to the opticians. I do care about my image, and I think without spending a tonne on nice deesigner glasses, I might look like a fool. On the other hand though, I'm not totally keen on putting my finger in my eye every morning. What is it like to wear them? Does it always feel like you have something in your eye? Do you get used to it? Does it hurt to put them in/take them out?

Thanks