I wear contact lenses & I almost never take them out. I wear them for 6 mont!

I wear contact lenses & I almost never take them out. I wear them for 6 months at a time. Am I gonna go blind?

I have had no problems like eye infections or crusties or anything. Just some extreme dryness when I wake up.

I work for an optometrist, and we see this kind of thing all the time. First of all, it depends on what type of contact lenses you currently use. Some lenses can be worn for up to two years at a time, while others (the cheaper, most often prescribed lenses) should really only be worn for about 1--at most 2--months. There are a couple of reasons why wearing contact lenses continually for long periods of time is not a good idea. First of all, contact lenses naturally get buildup of proteins in the eye. Most of the time, this causes them to hurt a bit after wearing them for so long. Additionally, wearing CL's for long periods of time can result in corneal abrasions--essentially scratches on the surface of your eye. These hurt and can be potentially very serious. Finally, you are running a very large risk of infection. Your eyes are basically like one big open wound--it is very susceptible to bacteria. By wearing your contacts for so long, you're only increasing your chances of getting a nasty infection. You may not have had one yet, but I guarantee that you will if you keep on this way.

My suggestion first suggestion is not to sleep with your contacts in. My second suggestion is to go see an optometrist, have him check your eyes out. My third suggestion is to talk to him/ her about getting you some more contact lenses!!! I have seen this quite a bit, and it never ends good--and more often than not--it ends badly!

Hope this helps!