Can I sleep with my color lenses or my contact lenses ?

Wearing contact lenses or color lenses at night while sleeping is not recommended. However, a little nap with your contact lenses is not very serious either. Our professional optician Sarah Marlien, tells you all about contact lenses and how to wear them at night.

When open, the eye oxygenates via ambient air. At night, when the eyelid is closed, our eye is therefore not oxygenated. We then wake up with a natural edema which disappears very quickly as soon as we open our eyes. The lens is an additional barrier that oxygen must cross to reach the cornea.

You should therefore know that it is not recommended to sleep with your contact lenses or color lenses in order to guarantee a good supply of oxygen to your eyes and to avoid maceration of microbes and bacteria. Hence the need when you remove your monthly lenses or quarterly lenses to clean them well and rinse them with a physiological serum before putting them back. Sleeping with your contact lenses or color lenses can have different effects upon waking: a red eye and especially a painful one upon waking.

I felt asleep with my color lenses, is it annoying ?

Of course, you can fall asleep for a nap with your contact lenses or your color lenses, or doze off in the middle of a book... No worries. A 30-minute nap will not affect your eyes. On the other hand, if you fell asleep with your lenses and you realize it the next morning here are some tips:

• Do not remove your contact lenses right away, they may have blown your eye a little...
• Put a few drops of saline solution or comfort drops in your eyes, blink your eyelids several times to rehydrate the entire surface.
• A few minutes after putting the saline drops, you can gently remove your contact lenses so as not to damage the cornea.
• It will then be recommended to wear your daytime glasses to allow your eyes to breathe. If you experience discomfort, a feeling of discomfort or have the sensation of not seeing clearly, it is recommended to consult your ophthalmologist. If you are used to wearing silicone hydrogel lenses you will experience less discomfort than if you are used to wearing hydrogel lenses.

Night and Day contact lenses: contact lenses that can be worn at night

Do you tend to forget to remove your contact lenses or color lenses? You can opt for Night and Day contact lenses which are silicone hydrogel lenses with very high oxygen flow. It is possible to wear them up to 15 days. On average, you can wear them over a period of 6 consecutive nights. Ask a specialist for advice on how to wear contact lenses. He will give you a personalized answer. It is still better to remove your lenses during the weekend for example to allow your eye to keep all of its contact lens capital and to be able to tolerate wearing lenses longer. This will prevent you from intolerance of the lenses at a certain age.

There is however an exception. These are contact lenses called Orthokeratology: these are lenses that are made to correct myopia and weak astigmatisms.
We wear them at night and take them off during the day. At night the lens acts on the shape of the cornea to allow you a clear vision without contact lens during the day. This method has very good results because it would also stop the development of myopia. This process is done after a particular adaptation. Again, we recommend that you discuss this with your optician or ophthalmologist.
Take care of your eyes, respect the wearing times which are indicated for each model of contact lens and if in doubt, ask advice from specialists.