don't try wearing for too long
Your contact lenses are a barrier between your cornea and the rest
of the world. While this may not seem like a bad thing, it is. Your
cornea, like every other part of the body, requires Oxygen. Too
little oxygen, and complications begin to arise. So what happens
when you fall asleep with your contact lenses in? Your cornea is
being denied oxygen by the lens itself. This leads to a condition
known as hypoxia.
Corneal hypoxia changes the rate of metabolism in the epithelium.
This in turn causes a decrease in glycogen, and makes the cornea
more sensitive and prone to adhesion and refractive error changes.
Continued progression includes corneal ulcers.
Since the cornea is more adhesive, this increases the chances of
any buildup on the cornea itself, including protein buildups, which
cause bacterial infections and corneal ulcers. Short term effects
include extreme intolerance to contact lenses. Lens intolerance can
be overcome by RGP Contact Lenses, but by this point, you should
just ditch them all together. Give your eyes a chance to heal, and
suck it up and wear glasses.
