Wearing daily contacts too long

yomamma

Hi,

I normally get daily contacts online. For the last 2 months I have only wore 8 pairs of lenses. This means contacts that should only be worn for one day, I am wearing for 7 days. Its for financial reasons but honestly how dangerous is this?

I know its dangerous but I have been doing it for two months now and hasnt efeected me at all.

Cheers!

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

i dont know about reusing dailies, I dont think that's too bad.. but dont wear them too much during the day

when i wore contacts I wore them from about 8am to midnight every day of the year and my eyes weren't getting enough oxygen, so I have small veins that grew across my eyeball meaning I look permanently bloodshot. the optician said it's not dangerous or anything and I was still able to get laser eye surgery but it does mean I look like i'm permanently stoned.

NIMAN

do you keep them in for 7 days straight?

I wear dailies and mine are usually uncomfortable to wear after about 8hr, but then again that's with no eye drops or lubricant.

i.d guess what you're doing probably isn't the wisest, but if you have had no reaction yet, maybe you might never have.

teddansonswig

have been told horror stories about veins growing across eyes seeking oxygen, so im more careful now but I have done the same as you for years.

went for a check up a few years ago where the optician asked me ' so you put these lenses in this morning?' and I agreed, where in fact I had put them in 3 days before hand. nothing was said. so thats my new limit!

yomamma

NIMAN wrote: »

do you keep them in for 7 days straight?

.

Ye I wear them 7 days straight. I put them in every sunday. I never take them out even during night. Sounds like good enough reactions though. I have been doing it for two months now I I havnt noticed any major effects.

Cheers!

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

wait, you dont even take them out when you're sleeping?

that is ****ing retarded

teddansonswig

the opticians dont notice so.... whats with the ********

yomamma

While I have the thread open I found out that wearing daily's longer than one day is ok. Thats cool.

This mightent be so good. I started wearing contacts 7 years ago. I have never been to get my eye test in 7 years. When I first got my eye test I was given perscription for -1.75 contacts. I am now -3.0. This is only on my jusgement. I order the contacts online so dont need prescription. over last seven years I have inreased my lenses from -1.75 to -3.0 on my own judgement.

IS THIS DANGEROUS? I save money this way but if I am goin to go blind I will obviously stop. For last seven years though doing all this, I havnt felt any bad effects.

Cheers!

mikemac1

Take a break, maybe one day a week is good

If you're wearing them all day every day there will be veins in your eyes
Nothing permanent but you need a break

Falling asleep with daily disposables is pretty stupid

teddansonswig

ok, yomamma you are mad.

seamus

If it's financial worries, then switch to monthly lenses. These are designed to be worn long-term and you don't need to worry about whether it's OK or not. They're also perfectly comfortable to sleep in, you don't need to continually put drops in your eyes to keep them lubricated.

There's nothing specifically wrong with self-evaluating your own eyesight, but your ophthalmologist doesn't just look for deterioation in eyesight, they're also checking for disorders and diseases of the eye which can be undetectable to you until they're too late.

Especially if you're over 25 and you've seen a deterioration in your eyesight, then you're asking for trouble by not getting it checked out.

yomamma

Thanks everyone!

Does anyone know of any good internet sites were I can get monthly lenses for cheap and take laser card?

Daisies

Oh dear God, please change to monthly lenses if cost is a concern!You wouldn't go a week without brushing your teeth! I actually feel ill at the thought of someone sleeping in daily lenses for a week!

Daisies

Also without having your eyes checked there is no way of knowing if it is doing permanent damage as corneal neovascularisation (the main consequence of over wear) doesn't affect your vision until it's.nearly going leave you blind

teddansonswig

just to clarify, I wore mine 3 days and 3 nights before having a check up.. nothing was said/noticed.
obviously continuous usage is not recommended and I have since reduced my usage of contacts hugely.
i still think opticians are a racket tho.

Daisies

teddansonswig wrote: »

just to clarify, I wore mine 3 days and 3 nights before having a check up.. nothing was said/noticed.
obviously continuous usage is not recommended and I have since reduced my usage of contacts hugely.

To be honest the side effects of a once off 3 day continuous wear would be so hard to spot. You only run into trouble if you continue to do that over a period of time as the OP does.

teddansonswig wrote: »

i still think opticians are a racket tho.

*Through gritted teeth* I suppose you think the same about GPs, dentists, physios etc etc

Claim The Frame

I actually can't believe what I am reading. How do you not have massive blisters in your eyes. And as for guessing your own prescription that is just crazy! You can get a free sight test or contact lens check up with your PRSI.

If money is an issue switch to monthly lenses they are much cheaper!

Solair

OP: That can cause serious damage to your cornea, eye infections and all sorts of nightmare situations. You are extremely lucky that you have had no side effects so far!

Put it this way, you could go blind or require a cornea transplant if you continue. Neither of these are particularly nice scenarios!

If you cannot afford the dailies you are wearing, switch to monthlies or 2-weeklies. You will need to go to an optician and get a prescription for these. Do not just buy them online, particularly if you have been misusing daily disposables. You need an eye check up a.s.a.p.

Secondly, get a pair of glasses you actually like! They aren't that bad!

Wear your glasses and do not wear lenses until you have had a check-up. You could do really serious damage to your eyes doing what you are doing!

ChocolateChip

yomamma wrote: »

While I have the thread open I found out that wearing daily's longer than one day is ok. Thats cool.

This mightent be so good. I started wearing contacts 7 years ago. I have never been to get my eye test in 7 years. When I first got my eye test I was given perscription for -1.75 contacts. I am now -3.0. This is only on my jusgement. I order the contacts online so dont need prescription. over last seven years I have inreased my lenses from -1.75 to -3.0 on my own judgement.

IS THIS DANGEROUS? I save money this way but if I am goin to go blind I will obviously stop. For last seven years though doing all this, I havnt felt any bad effects.

Cheers!

I have honestly never read something as worrying as this on boards.ie. Please, PLEASE go to see your optometrist. You should be having annual check-ups, not going 7 years without one! You do not wear daily lenses longer than a day-it's in the name. I would cringe even if I wore monthly lenses for 7 days straight. I take my lenses out every night, and sometimes if I'm lazy or exhausted I'll leave them in overnight. I have silicon hydrogel lenses, by the way, which are great for oxygen circulation.

I know you might not think that you haven't had any adverse effects, but believe me, for someone to be abusing their eyes in this way, it is likely you have blood vessels growing in your eye to try to increase oxygen content.

Don't continue doing what you're doing. I know my post might seem annoying to you, or that I'm angry, but it is absolute concern for you and your eyes that I felt I needed to type this. It is my only post, I am just hoping that you heed the advice from Daisies etc. and I-please go to see your optometrist and discontinue prescribing your own lenses and over-wearing them.

teddansonswig wrote: »

just to clarify, I wore mine 3 days and 3 nights before having a check up.. nothing was said/noticed.
obviously continuous usage is not recommended and I have since reduced my usage of contacts hugely.
i still think opticians are a racket tho.

This is the type of useless, dangerous advice that boards.ie aims to avoid and it is no wonder that there is a ban on medical advice on here. The short-term effects of what you did would not be seen, but long-term you can bet your bottom that they will be identifiable.

Also, how condescending and down-right biased you are saying that about opticians. They have gone through years and years of study, and judging by your post, they know a heck of a lot more than you with regards to eye health.

You seem like the type of person who holds everybody in the health profession, with suspicion. It is the type of thinking that is most unwelcome and dangerous too.

Solair

Also remember, for the sake of a few quid saved on your contact lenses, you could end up blind for life.

It's not something you should mess around with!

Not to mention that even in the medium term, some of the conditions associated with contact lens abuse are really painful and quite nasty e.g. corneal ulcers, fungal infections, bacterial infections, etc etc.

Daisies

ChocolateChip wrote: »

Also, how condescending and down-right biased you are saying that about opticians. They have gone through years and years of study, and judging by your post, they know a heck of a lot more than you with regards to eye health.

You seem like the type of person who holds everybody in the health profession, with suspicion. It is the type of thinking that is most unwelcome and dangerous too.

Ah, thankfully some sense!

dearg lady

Oh my goodness, I don't know how you could do that! My eyes would be killing me if I even left them in for 1 night. It's so extreme. I mean it's one thing to push it out a bit, say wear monthlies for 5 weeks or something, but 7 days with a daily lens! that's crazy.
As for guessing your own prescription, I dunno, seems pretty silly thing to do, there's more to a lens than just the one basic prescription. I recently found out I need toric lenses...so no wonder I couldn't see bus numbers or anything!

teddansonswig

ChocolateChip wrote: »

.



This is the type of useless, dangerous advice

I advised nothing, just shared my experience!

ChocolateChip

teddansonswig wrote: »

I advised nothing, just shared my experience!

Which was wholly unhelpful. Keep your advice to yourself from now on if it's not good advice.

teddansonswig

get a life chocchip, theres some advice for you!

ChocolateChip

teddansonswig wrote: »

get a life chocchip, theres some advice for you!

Wow, mature! Just what I'd expect.

Daisies

Poster infracted. No personal abuse!

ChocolateChip

Daisies wrote: »

Poster infracted. No personal abuse!

Thank you, Daisies!:)

louise5754

Madness absolute madness!! I feel dirty even thinking about wearing the lenses overnight. Do yourself a favour and book an appointment with your local optician NOW!!

sligoface

switch to monthly or fortnightly ones. i wear acuvue oasys fortnightly, they are really comfortable and i stretch it too three or four weeks for financial reasons too. also you can sleep with them in from time to time if you have to, i don't usually unless i've had a few beverages and because i think they last longer if you take them out and wash them.

but you really should get an eye exam. i dunno how you test your own eyes, do you have one of those charts with all the letters on them and a bunch of different lenses or something? wearing the wrong prescription could screw yr eyes up big time, and the deterioration you described sounds a bit much.

emuhead

I used to overwear my contacts until I got an eye infection. My advice is spend money on glasses you really like so that you are less tempted to overwear contacts. I switched to contacts from really ugly glasses which meant I never wore my glasses (-3.0), a recipe for disaster!

Re economic reasons...I left a contact lens in overnight by mistake which dried out, got stuck and tore while I was taking it out, leaving a bit behind. It was 2 days before payday and I couldn't afford the optician's appointment. I phoned and asked them would it be OK to leave it for a couple of days and explained why...they said they would phone me back. 20 mins later they phoned back and said there was no charge (they were my regular optician). Even when I said I'd pay at the weekend they waived the charge. I'm not saying that this is guaranteed but just something to keep in mind if you are ever stuck.

teddansonswig

so, just had a check up recently, after 5+ years of abuse, no damage.

DoctorMedicine

teddansonswig wrote: »

so, just had a check up recently, after 5+ years of abuse, no damage.

I'd rather take my chances and use my contact lenses correctly, instead of abusing my eyes and running the real risk of damaging them.

I appreciate and am so grateful for my sight, that I would regard it as foolish, idiotic and completely callous to be careless with my eyes.

skimpydoo

yomamma wrote: »

Hi,

I normally get daily contacts online. For the last 2 months I have only wore 8 pairs of lenses. This means contacts that should only be worn for one day, I am wearing for 7 days. Its for financial reasons but honestly how dangerous is this?

I know its dangerous but I have been doing it for two months now and hasnt efeected me at all.

Cheers!

Try wearing day and night lenses. I have for 7 years now and happy days no issues.