Emergency Guide: What to Do If You Slept in Contacts (Doctor's Advice)

Did you sleep in your contacts? Don't panic—you're not alone. About one-third of the 45 million contact lens users in the United States admit to sleeping with their contacts in. This common mistake makes you six to eight times more likely to get eye infections with most contact types.

Your eyes might feel dry, irritated, or painful after sleeping with contacts. Contact lens wearers, especially those who use colored contacts, face higher risks. One-third of colored contact users doze off with their lenses in, which can cause redness, blurry vision, and serious conditions like keratitis. Your corneas receive less oxygen because contacts cover your eyes during sleep. The lenses may even stick painfully to your eyes. This piece will guide you through the necessary steps and help you determine if you need immediate medical care.

What Happens When You Sleep in Contacts

Sleeping with contact lenses creates a perfect environment for eye problems. Eye doctors repeatedly warn against this practice because of what happens to your eyes overnight.

Reduced oxygen to the cornea

The clear front layer of your eye (cornea) needs oxygen from the air since it lacks blood vessels. Blinking helps move tears under your lenses to deliver fresh oxygen during the day. This natural process stops during sleep.

Contact lenses block oxygen from reaching your cornea while you sleep. The lack of oxygen, called hypoxia, starts a chain of problems. Your cornea swells about 4% overnight (corneal edema). The swelling goes down a few hours after waking up, but regular oxygen deprivation can damage your eyes permanently.

Your eye tries to make up for the lack of oxygen. Corneal cells start to break down and abnormal blood vessels might grow in your eye (neovascularization).

Increased risk of infection

The numbers paint a scary picture - you're six to eight times more likely to get eye infections if you sleep with contacts. Bacteria and microorganisms get stuck between your lens and cornea, where they multiply rapidly.

Dangerous bacteria like Pseudomonas aeruginosa love this warm, moist space. These organisms can create a biofilm on the lens surface that makes them tough to remove.

Common infection signs include:

• Redness and irritation
• Blurry vision
• Eye pain or discomfort
• Discharge or excessive tearing

These infections, particularly microbial keratitis (corneal inflammation), can develop quickly and might permanently damage your vision if left untreated.

Why colored contacts are riskier

Colored contacts pose bigger dangers than clear lenses during sleep. Research shows that colored contact users are 16 times more likely to get keratitis than regular contact lens wearers.

The extra pigments and dyes in colored lenses create another barrier that your eyes must breathe through. Studies show that chemicals in over-the-counter tinted contacts, including chlorine and other harmful substances, can leak into your eye.

Many people buy decorative lenses without proper prescriptions or professional fitting. This leads to poor fit that can scratch the cornea.

Immediate Steps to Take After Waking Up

You wake up and find you slept in your contacts? Stay calm. This common mistake needs careful handling to prevent damage to your corneas.

Blink to rehydrate your eyes

Your lenses will be dry and might stick to your corneas after sleeping in them. Start by blinking several times to get your natural tears flowing. This helps add moisture to your eyes and loosens the contact lenses from your corneas. Looking up, down, left, and right can help unstick the lenses. Don't try to remove them right away as this could harm your cornea.

Use sterile saline or eye drops

Add sterile saline or lubricating eye drops made for contact lens wearers. Tilt your head back and put a few drops in each eye. Blink so the solution spreads across your eye's surface. Let the drops work for 3-5 minutes. This vital step helps safely separate the lenses from your corneas. You might need to add more drops if your eyes are very dry.

Remove lenses gently

When your eyes feel more moist, you can take out your contacts:

• Wash your hands well with soap and water
• Softly massage around your eyelids to help move the lens
• Look up and pull down your lower eyelid with your middle finger
• Use your index finger and thumb to softly pinch the lens
• Lift the lens away from your eye without forcing it

Call your eye doctor right away if you can't remove the lenses or feel ongoing discomfort instead of trying repeatedly.

Avoid wearing lenses for the rest of the day

Give your eyes a full day to recover. Wear your glasses and use preservative-free lubricating drops to keep your eyes moist. Your eyes need time to heal from not getting enough oxygen overnight. Watch for signs like redness, pain, sensitivity to light, or blurry vision. See your eye care professional quickly if you notice any concerning symptoms that last more than 24 hours.

Warning Signs You Shouldn’t Ignore

Your first step after sleeping in contacts should be to spot serious warning signs. You need to watch for symptoms that require quick medical help to avoid complications.

Slept in contacts now eye is red

Red eyes signal distress. Your eyes appear substantially red after sleeping in contacts, which points to inflammation or a possible infection. Minor morning redness usually fades fast. But red eyes that last all day, along with other symptoms, mean you just need to see a doctor.

Blurry vision or cloudy eyes

Eyes that look cloudy or have blurred vision after sleeping in contacts usually mean your cornea is swollen or infected. This becomes a bigger concern if your vision stays blurry for hours after taking out the lenses. Vision changes could mean your cornea is damaged and needs treatment right away.

Eye pain or discomfort

Mild discomfort is normal after taking out lenses. But severe pain needs quick attention. The pain could mean you have a scratched cornea, infection, or inflammation. Eye pain that lingers after sleeping in contacts should never be ignored.

Sensitivity to light

Light sensitivity often comes with corneal problems or infections. Your cornea might be damaged or infected if light bothers your eyes, so you'll need a doctor to check them.

Discharge or excessive tearing

Watery eyes can happen first as your eyes try to clean themselves. In spite of that, yellow or green discharge points to a bacterial infection. Clear discharge plus other warning signs means you should call your eye doctor.

How to Prevent This in the Future

Taking care of your contacts is nowhere near as difficult as dealing with problems after sleeping in them. You can develop better lens habits with these simple strategies.

Stick to daily wear schedules

You need to replace your lenses on schedule—this applies even if you wear contacts once in a while. Research shows all but one of these contact wearers fail to follow their prescribed schedules. This buildup of proteins and lipids on overused lenses leads to higher infection risks.

Avoid sleeping in colored contacts

No colored contacts are designed for overnight wear. These colored lenses have extra pigments that block oxygen flow. You must take out your colored lenses before any nap or sleep to stay safe from complications.

Use FDA-approved lenses only

The FDA checks all contact lenses before market release. When you buy from unauthorized vendors, you risk using lenses without proper safety testing. Note that contacts are medical devices that need professional fitting.

Always remove lenses before bed

You need to take out daily wear contacts every night. Daily disposables might work better if you tend to forget—they eliminate the need for cleaning and storage. Clean reusable lenses with fresh solution each night.

Talk to your eye doctor about extended wear options

Extended wear lenses let you sleep while wearing them. These lenses still carry infection risks though. Your eye doctor should check if your eyes can handle extended wear before you try this option.

Conclusion

Many contact lens wearers sleep with their lenses on by accident. This mistake increases your risk of eye infections and complications by a lot. If you wake up with contacts still in, follow these steps: blink to rehydrate, use sterile saline drops, and remove lenses gently. Your eyes need a full day to recover from oxygen deprivation.

Never ignore warning signs like persistent redness, pain, blurry vision, light sensitivity, or discharge. These symptoms point to problems that need immediate medical care. Without doubt, your best defense is prevention. You should stick to proper wear schedules, take out lenses before bed, and use only FDA-approved products.

Colored contacts come with higher risks, so you need extra watchfulness with these lenses. Your eye health depends on how responsibly you handle your contact lenses. Quick action and proper care can protect your vision when accidents happen. Regular visits to your eye doctor help catch developing problems early, before they cause lasting damage. Your eyes need this careful attention since vision remains one of your most precious senses.