Is that true that your eye needs to breath?!


Question: Are eye contact lenses bad for your eye because of that?


Answers: Are eye contact lenses bad for your eye because of that?

The blood in the blood vessels on the white part of the eye carry oxygen to supply it. These blood vessels DO NOT rely on the eye being open to get oxygen, it comes in the blood like in the rest of our body.

The cornea, clear part that we look through, is avascular (ie has no blood vessels). The cornea relies on oxygen getting to it from the atmosphere. When you put a contact lens on your eye, you restrict the oxygen getting through to it. When this happens over a long period of time, the blood vessels on the white of the eye can begin to grow into the cornea to supply the oxygen.

Moderate use of contact lenses with regards to oxygen supply to the cornea is pretty safe. Thankfully with the introduction of silicone hydrogel contact lens materials, the issue of oxygen deprivation has been solved. Examples of such contact lenses are CIBA Night & Day, O2Optix, Acuvue Oasys & Advance, B&L Purevision. These lenses can be worn all day, every day without causing problem of hypoxia (lack of oxygen) to the cornea. Some of them may even be worn overnight.

Yes. Your blood vessels in your eye need to contact the air to get the oxygen they need. I used to wear my contacts too much and my optometrist showed me that the little blood vessels in my eye were growing in number (blood shot eyes) because they could not find enough air to get the oxygen they needed. Follow what your doc says for wearing the lenses, try having nights with glasses, or weekend days with no contacts on, every little step will help. It is not life or death, but keeping your eyes healthy is a good idea.

Yes, your eyes need oxygen and that is one of the reasons why over wearing contact lenses is NOT a good idea. When your lenses are in, they do not get near the amount of oxygen that your eyes need to stay healthy. When they are oxygen-deprived, blood vessels can begin to grow across the cornea (this is called corneal neovasculariztion) in an attempt to deliver oxygen to your suffocating cornea. These blood vessels will obstruct your vision. They often recede after several weeks or months of not wearing lenses at all.

So yes, in order for your eyes to stay healthy, oxygen is necessary.





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