Sleeping with Contacts: Risks & Safe Napping Practices

Most people would prefer the ease and convenience of being able to sleep without taking out their contacts, but the fact is, sleeping with your contact lenses increases the risk of infection and damage to the eyes. There are ways, however, to reduce the risks of napping while wearing contacts.

Things You'll Need

• Eye doctor
• Contact lenses
• Eye drops for those with contact lenses

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Instructions

Steps to take to safely sleep with contacts

• 1

  Call your doctor and schedule a consultation and eye exam.

• 2

  Go to the appointment and inform your eye doctor that you would like extended-wear contact lenses (these are the safest type to wear while sleeping).

• 3

  Wait until your new contacts come in before sleeping while wearing contacts, unless your doctor says that it will not damage your eyes to sleep with the type you already have.

• 4

  Once your new contacts arrive, make sure you have plenty of eye drops made for contact-lens wearers, because the odds of your eyes being dry after you wake up from a nap while wearing them is very high.