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Extended wear contact lenses are now available and gaining popularity. They are more permeable to oxygen, which means that more oxygen is able to get through the lens to reach the cornea. People can enjoy the convenience of wearing lenses for longer periods of time with increased comfort and less oxygen deprivation, keeping the cornea healthier. These types of lenses are especially beneficial for people who sometimes work a stretch of over 10 hours but cannot take off their contact lenses, for example, flight attendants and nurses.
However, even with the advent of these highly oxygen permeable lenses, TRSC still does not advocate sleeping with contact lenses. Retailers will advertise that these lenses can be worn during sleep, which is quite risky. This is because when we are wearing contact lenses, the cornea already receives less oxygen from the air than normal. If the eye with the contact lens is further covered by the eyelids, the oxygen level drops even lower, and the cornea is much more prone to infection. Additionally, contact lenses have little pores (the high oxygen permeable contacts have even larger pores) that bacteria can hide in and multiply and wait for the right moment to strike. So please remember, extended wear does not mean wearing your contact lenses to sleep overnight.
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