Today I woke up with a sort of itchy feeling in my eye that is probably due to this nasty cold I picked up Sunday. Or it could be because I left my contacts in last night, but probably not because I leave my contacts in every night. Maybe it is because I haven't changed my 1-month contacts in about 5 months. Yeah. I don't have very good contact hygiene (or "high jeans" as a potential employee wrote in her resume when outlining her childcare duties at a pre-school. Haha. Hahaha.). I will put a new pair of contacts in and take them out only when they literally fall apart. I sleep in them every night. They are like security blankets for my irises.
I was sort of surprised to discover that not everyone does this. In fact I have one friend who threatens me with vision loss whenever she sees me because she heard that I hadn't taken out a pair one night.
Indulge me a little here. Do you wear contacts? Do you replace them regularly? Do you remove them at night (GAH! If so, how do you see your dreams?!)
I'm kind of interested in getting an informal poll. In the meantime I'm going to go rinse my eyes with saline and deal with it, because I was supposed to have a day off today to recover and instead I got called in to work. People always call in during Mardi Gras. *sigh*
Gah! I cannot stand sleeping in my contacts. I wake up with sticky eyes and have to take them out immediately and soak them for at least a little bit. Even for a nap I take them out.
ReplyDeleteMy contacts are meant to be worn for 2 weeks, I wear them for closer to a month though. My eye care plan only pays for so many and I hate to buy more out of pocket.
Amazing how people get the flu during Mardi Gras, huh? ;-)
I am so THRILLED to hear that I am NOT the only one who does this!!! My 30 day contacts have been known to last me almost a year... call me cheap, call me lazy, call me bad at "high-jeans" (god, thats cute!) but in my opinion, it's just one more chore at the end of the day. The eye doc has threatened me with vision loss and has changed my lenses frequently attempting to find something that works better for me.. after these visits I'm usually better about taking them out for a week or so and then right back to the bad habits. Apparently this is horrible for your eyes and can cause scar tissue to grow, limiting vision. When your eyes are covered with the lenses they can't breathe and blood vessels (I believe...?) begin to grow to supply more oxygen... I have blue eyes that have been slowly developing a darker rim around them since I started wearing contacts - apparently that is the scar tissue... who knows?! When I'm forty and stuck in glasses Ill be kicking myself for it... here's to being "young and dumb!"
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