It’s the end of the month, and you are down to your last pair of contacts. “Another couple weeks shouldn’t be too bad, right?” you think to yourself. “What’s the harm? So what if I wear mine a little longer.” Unfortunately, this thought process goes on too often, and can lead to some very bad habits, as well as some major eye issues. Let’s review the reasons why regular contact lens replacement IS important…
Contact lenses are a medical device, and need to be taken care of in order to keep your eyes healthy. As you wear a contact lens, different debris from your tear film, such as allergens and proteins, can actually bind to the contact lens.Wearing a contact lens past its recommended replacement schedule allows this accumulation to limit the amount of oxygen that is able to pass through the contact lens to your cornea. If your eye is deprived of oxygen, different problems can develop:
- The part of the eye the contact lens sits on, the cornea, can swell and/or become dry. Small amounts of corneal edema and dryness can cause your vision to be blurry. Light doesn’t focus properly, increasing glare especially at night.
- The whites of the eyes can become irritated and turn red from oxygen deprivation.
- When the cornea is not able to “breathe”, it sends a signal to its surrounding tissues that it needs oxygen.The eye compensates for this loss of oxygen by sending oxygen the only other way it knows how: through blood in blood vessels. Blood vessels can start to grow into the edges of the cornea in order to provide the eye with oxygen. A healthy cornea should be free from blood vessel growth.
- Corneal tissue can become irritated, which can lead to inflammation. This inflammation can cause an eye to become red, watery, and abnormally sensitive to light, to name a few things. These areas of inflammation, if not treated correctly, can lead to scarring of the cornea.
- If an eye is irritated and not treated properly, infections can occur, leading to corneal ulcers. These can range in size and severity, with the smallest needing a moderate amount of care and supervision, to the larger type requiring treatment as extreme as a corneal transplant.
As you know, our eyes are incredible structures that we depend on so much. Taking care of your eyes involves replacing your contact lenses in a timely and responsible manner, as directed by your doctor, in order to help avoid any of the aforementioned problems. If you are experiencing any of the symptoms listed above, or have any questions about contact lenses, make sure you visit your eye care professional.
Until next time…Stay focused Milwaukee!