Regarding Wearing Lenses BEYOND the Disposable Time Frame

[shaq786]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

I need YOUR personal and professional opinion, even if they do contradict. I tried to find this on google, but I'd rather just come here...

1. Recently I went to an optometrist, and she knew what she was talking about. I told her I wear my 2-week contact lenses for a 1 month time period before tossing them out. And she told me it was not advisable and I should not be doing that because I am going to be causing long-term damage to my eye if I continue this route. How much of a big issue is this with contact lenses???

2. So I reframed the question and asked her, what if someone were to just pop open a new 2-week set of lenses and wears them once. Then waits 3 weeks before wearing them again. Would I still have to throw those out after 2 weeks? She said yes, from the time that I open the lenses, I have to go with that 2-week time frame, even if I barely wear them. So what do you all feel about that?

3. I currently am planning on wearing my lenses 4 days/week for 6 hour days. Do you think I can drag out my 2-week lenses to 1 month by this amount of usage?

 

[362.04]

Most wearing schedules are predicated on either the clinical studies that were used to qualify the lens for FDA and laboratory studies that detect the persistence of tear proteins that plaque a lens despite using "no rub" solutions.

It has already been established in the laboratory that a lens that is worn from 8-12 hours on its first use and then stored will actually degrade in performance because the tear proteins despite any kind of cleaning regimen still persist. Actually the best cleaning only removes 80-85% of the deposited protein on the first use.

I recommend 14 uses in a 14 day period for 2 week lens. That means even if you use a lens once in 14 days, it should still be disposed of after that 14 days.

This is different from continuous wear where you wear them 14 days in a row within a 14 day period. Then the oxygenation of the cornea and the removal of physiologic waste products are additional considerations. In most cases, non silicone hydrogel lenses have significantly more proclivity for bacterial keratitis than daily wear and I don't believe that routine extended or continuous wear is ideal.

 

[prettygreeneyes]

SDN is NOT the place for medical advice. Listen to your optometrist, she knows what she is talking about.