Is it bad to sleep with contact lenses?

My teenage son once forgot to take his lenses out before sleeping and woke up with extremely red, painful eyes. We had to rush him to the eye clinic. Please make it a strict rule to remove them every night, no matter how tired you are.

I just started wearing contact lenses last week and I am really scared of damaging my eyes. Is it bad if I accidentally sleep in them for just an hour-long nap? Or should I remove them every single time I close my eyes?

To keep eyes healthy naturally, we should splash them with clean water and rest them in total darkness. Leaving lenses in stops the natural cleansing process of your tears. If you have any sticky discharge or sharp pain after sleeping in them, go see an eye specialist immediately.

My optometrist told me that sleeping in contact lenses increases the risk of a corneal ulcer by almost 10 times. The lens deprives your cornea of essential oxygen, making it a breeding ground for bacteria. It is definitely not worth the risk.

Yes, it is actually quite risky to sleep with contacts on because it blocks oxygen to your eyes. Try to take them out even if you are just taking a short afternoon nap.

With diabetes, any minor eye irritation or infection can take much longer to heal because of slower recovery rates. That is why I am extremely careful never to sleep with my contacts in. It is just basic safe hygiene to keep your vision protected.

I totally get it, after a long exhausting day, the last thing you want to do is stand in front of the mirror and clean lenses. But trust me, leaving them in makes your eyes so dry and irritated the next morning. Just keeping your lens case on your nightstand might make it easier to remove them.