Wearing contact lens not more than 8 hours a day?!

Someone else said this - but its about oxygen. Lenses prevent some of the oxygen from getting to your eye, and your eye needs it to function properly. My lenses (Acuvue 2's) let 88% of the oxygen in. Others are more, some are less.

The other thing that happens is that your eye begins to change shape from wearing the lens. It is this reason that you are not supposed to wear lenses for 1 month before Lasik surgery.

8 hours is short. I wear mine all day long, from 30 minutes after I get up to 30 minutes before I fall asleep. I wear mine too long, but I have such a terrible prescription (-12.00 in one eye, -11.00 in the other) that switching to glasses makes me dizzy. So I don't have much option. That being said, if you can wear glasses, you are better off switching between your contacts and glasses for optimum eye health.

Been wearing contacts for 17 years.

If you wear contacts all day long then your eyes get deprived of oxygen. You won't immediately have a problem but long term you could seriously damage your eyesight. You don't get a lot of warning your eyes are startng to suffer from this as they don't hurt , its one of teh symptoms. Now the question is how long should you wear them for? 8 hours is really short - I've heard 14 as maximum Its good to give your eyes oxygen when you first get up and before you go to bed. Also you can wear longer one day and perhaps less the next. Just make sure you don't wear them from the minute you get pu to the minute you go to bed every day. Also make sure you get regular checkups as this is one of the things the optician checks for. If your eyes are always red when you take your lenses out that is a danger sign that you are wearing for too long.

Usually when you are first prescribed contacts the optometrist will say you should first start with 2 hours a day working up to about 12. 12 is supposed to be the maximum but I have friends who always wear theirs for 15 hours a day. I wear silicon hydrogel contacts 5 or more days a week and wear them for 12-13 hours a day with no problem.

Ask your optometrist why you shouldn't wear more than 8 hours a day. You may find that's it s because you are new to contacts and need to build up your tolerance for them. I'm not sure though if different types of contacts would have difference maximum wear times so it would be worth asking that too.

When you first get contacts, you're advised not to wear them for more than 3 hours. You gradually increase that, but I've heard the limit is up to 15 hours.

When you wear them for 16-17 hrs a day... yeah, I guess that's fine... I know that people wear them from morning till they go to sleep (=all day) but it's not healthy. Your eyes need oxygen and wearing contacts for too long might dehydrate them, cause oxygen deprivation or something more serious. Of course you can wear them for more than 8 hours, but don't wear them all day. Your friend might have strong eyes, or she's just lucky. I wouldn't risk that though. :) Stick to 15 hours a day, it's not that few.... :)

It would have to be a pretty unusual situation for it not to be safe to wear contact lenses more then eight hours. Ask your optometrist why he placed this somewhat unusual restriction on you.

optometrist

consult with an ophthalmologist or optometrist