teary eyes on a contact lens wearer

[RKM]

I recently had a client that has been successfully wearing continuous wear lenses for two years (not my client I just helped him for one day). He removes the lens on the 30th night and sleeps with no lens. He came because he had ordered lenses from a different retailer but they had not arrived yet. His problem was that having no lens in his eyes made his eyes water. I did an assessment his cornea was clear his tear but was 10+. No lid problems. He had seen his optometrist recently. Once the lens was inserted the tearing stopped immediately. I suggested that he talk to his eyecare professional about the causes of this. I suggested that he remove his lenses at night and see if his tearing problem resolved.
My question: If a person has been wearing lenses to sleep in for two years is it possible once the lens is removed that the eye develops senstivity for not having a contact lens on the eye?

[chip anderson]

Many years ago a group of ophthalmologists in Boston experimented with 24hr wear of PMMA lenses. Supprisingly they had no problems but when they decided to terminate the experiment, they had to use a "reverse wearing schedule" to wean themselves out of thier lenses.

I suspect that the eye, and especially the cornea was not used to air exposure and was reacting to combat a "dry eye." You see a little of this if you wear goggles to work for long periods of time that "seal well" and then remove them...
Of course this only last short periods of time.

Chip

[Myoptic33]

this explains why one of my friends says his eyes feel better with contacts! Perhaps his eyes produces so much tears its the opposite of dry eyes and the contacts remove the excess tears. My eyes are a little on the dry side, they usually feel fine bare eyed but contacts dry them out quick then I have to remove them and the contacts are half dry when they come out!

[RKM]

Thanks for the info!

Myoptic33 - contact lenses should always feel comfortable-- have you tried the Acuve Oasysis. I hear that is a good lens.

chip anderson - thanks that is interesting.

Does anybody know about any unbiased or independent studies on overnight lenses? I am curious to find out if this is a common problem after wearing lenses overnight for so many years if this is a common problem. I fit continuous wear but most my clients are new at this process so I have yet to see the longterm results. So far the eyes look exceptional. :)

[Happylady]

I have slept in my contacts for years but I have no problems when I don't wear them. I generally sleep in them 5 or 6 nights a week. I wear Night and Day now or Pure Vision.

[Myoptic33]

Its still risky and can cause problems. I told my own optometrist about those and he says there very bad, he gets patients all the time that come with ruined eyes from sleeping in their contacts. Its your eyes to do what you want but id rather take the 1 minute to remove my contacts or insert them.

[chip anderson]

Several rules here:

1: Anything you sleep with is going to cause trouble sooner or later (You momma shoulda taught you that).
2) Sleeping in contact (or not cleaning them for that matter) and saying "I've never had a problem". Is a little like saying I've never gotten pregant, I don't need birth control.
3) Only a small percent of the population is so nearsighted that they can't find the bathroom at night.
4) Very, very few of us are fortunate enough to sleep with someone who remains so lovely that we want to see everything all night.

So If this is not an occasional hot date, or a combat situation why take the risk?

Of course since I now make most of my living from prosthetic eyes, I guess I should encourage exteended wear.

Chip:finger: