I wear Accuvue, these are supposed to be worn for one or two weeks, according to the web page. I wear mine for two months or more. I usually open a new pair if I loose one in the shower or damage one. I can’t really tell the difference between old and new. Do lens degrade over time and am I risking my eyes by wearing the same pair for such a long time?
Before somebody offers advice, I do only wear them during the day, and remove them at night.
Two months is stretching a bit; I used to wear Acuvues and after a month they got REALLY uncomfortable. Interestingly, the optometrist told me to wear them for up to a month at a time. Being quite poor, I’d stretch them out as long as possible. I’ve never had any problems.
I’m sure somebody with more expertise will come along and be horrified, though. What I don’t understand are the people who use SPIT to wet their contacts…EEEEEW!
And I never, ever, ever wear mine at night. That’s just asking for trouble.
My eye doctor told me that each pair could be worn for two weeks. More if they weren’t used every day (he suggested alternating between glasses and contacts). I’d generally wear each pair until they started to deterioriate.
After a few weeks, they’d become more flacid, wouldn’t hold their shape as easily, tended to slip around on my eye, became more difficult to put in, etc.
In the end, I gave up contacts altogether. It’s just too expensive to buy lenses when you have astigmatism.
I believe you may be at risk of catching an eye infection from wearing your lenses for too long. Germs, bacteria and other nasty stuff builds up on your lenses over time.
I used to wear daily wear contact lenses, the kind you’re supposed to take out every day. Sometimes I would go weeks without taking them out and cleaning them. My eyes were constantly bloodshot and I often had infections. Then I went to the eye doctor and he told me that the blood vessals in my eyeballs were branching out and growing abnormally, because there was a lack of oxygen in my eyeball. Because I was sleeping with my contacts, I was depriving my eyeballs of oxygen.
NO NO NO: they are not in my eyes for that period of time…
I keep a pair in use for maybe 2- 3 months
Before he had Lasik in December, my SO wore Accuvue and he would sleep in them and keep them in for more than a month at a time. He said they would get “sticky” and then he knew it was time for a new pair.
I had the same problem that Hermann Cheruscan had. It doesn’t depend so much on whether you leave them in all the time or not, although that will speed the process along. It depends more on how often you clean them, and even if you clean them every day and do the enzyme treatment weekly, they’ll still eventually get so much build-up that oxygen flow through the lenses is impeded.
The point of having disposables is that they don’t require as much maintenance. You can stretch out the use if you treat them like non-disposables and clean them every day (not just dropping them in solution). I wear my one-month disposables for 1-2 months and dispose when they don’t feel as good anymore. I am very prone to infections and have reactions when the protein deposits build up though, so others may be able to stretch them out even more with proper care.
Johnny Bravo, I don’t know where you’re from, but I have never had any trouble getting contacts for astigmatism. You might want to shop around.
Velma, I have astigmatism too. I was told that there is too much of a degree of difference in my vision to wear bifocal contacts. I wear the contacts and use reading glasses for up close work.