What happens if you wear your 14-day contact lenses longer than 14 days?

Infection becomes a much more serious possibility. In a worst case, blindness could ensue.

You will die.

The longest i’ve kept mine in was 27 days. This was back in high school, I refused to wear my glasses. They were soft non-disposables. I didn’t see any infection or anything, but def. would not reccommend doing that.

I rarely take out my contacts. They are supposed to be taken out once a day, but they last a month. I sometimes leave them in for months at a time.
The consequences I’ve encountered is severely dry eyes, irritated eyes…not infected though. Oh, and always a lecture from my eye doctor.

Your eyes will fall out.

But seriously, its not terribly good for your eyes to be worn much longer than the suggested time because it can cause infection and can ruin your eyesight as well.

OK, boys and girls, this is serious.

“According to the researchers in this study (1), the risk of microbial keratitis was almost 20 times greater for users of extended-wear soft contact lenses and 3 times greater for users of daily-wear soft contact lenses than for people who use daily-wear hard lenses. The researchers attribute the high risk of infection of extended-wear lens users to the users’ tendency to keep the contact lenses in overnight.”

Enjoy your seeing eye dog.

@casheroo: I have the same exact situation! My contacts are supposed to last a month, but ideally, should be taken out everyday. I have also left a single pair in for months at a time without ever removing them. Occasionally, my eyes will freak out from dryness/irritation, and I also get lectures from the eye doctor, but that’s about it.

@girlofscience Hey, I didn’t have sever complications the first 25 times so I think I will continue to play Russian Roulette.

@casheroo and @girlofscience: Exactly the same situation with me. My contacts are supposed to be replaced once/month, but taken out at night. The only time I take them out is when I’m replacing them, which is usually ever month and a half.

@girlofscience I put saline in every morning, that’s about it. I take my contacts out when one finally tears or my eyes are just hurting a lot. I had to do that recently… The crappy part is, I have to wear my glasses for a couple days because my eyes are too irritated for my contacts :( I hate my glasses, if I had cute ones I’d be happy. You don’t wear glasses though, right…I don’t know how you do it! Oh, and get this..my last eye doctor told me to not wear contacts for a month…yeah right! I don’t think I could ever do that. I’d have to be paid or something.

@casheroo: Haha, no, I don’t even own glasses. I’m in the process of learning my lesson though. A few weeks ago, the last pair of my monthly contacts went nuts on me. The one in my right eye tore or dried out or died in some way, and it was causing extreme pain. I had to take it out and then I could only see out of one eye. I felt like I was on drugs! I called 1–800-contacts or whatever to order new contacts to be sent to me in the mail (I hadn’t realized I was on my last pair until one of them broke), and they refused to send me new contacts because my prescription had expired. I hadn’t yet gotten an eye doctor in North Carolina, so I had no one in the area who had ever seen me and would be able to help me out. My one local eye-doctor friend was on vacation, so I tried calling tons of local eye doctors to make an appointment, but no one had an opening for weeks! I resorted to calling my ophthalmologist friend and told her my sobstory/emergency. Thankfully, she was able to call her office and have someone give me a trial pair in my prescription. But she lectured me quite a lot and said she is making me get glasses when she gets back from vacation! If I hadn’t had this friend, I would have been totally screwed and unable to see clearly out of my right eye for weeks. I wouldn’t have been able to drive or accomplish anything in the lab! When I picked up the trial contacts she set aside for me, I was planning to start being responsible and take them out, but I’ve had them in for a few weeks now and still always forget. Old habits are hard to break.

Well, protein builds up on the lenses… looks like a bunch of fine white silt which clouds your vision. Also, they get very dry.

and HOLY SHIT at all of you who keep your contacts in for months at a time! That’s sheer insanity! I didn’t even know that was possible without the lens bursting in your eye (happened to a kid I know), or experiencing other severe discomfort. I can barely keep them in for 12 hours without my eyes getting all scratchy and irritated. I never sleep or even shower with them in. Don’t even wanna imagine the discomfort I’d feel if I did. I strictly adhere to the 14-day schedule.

@le_inferno A lens burst in a kids eye? Did he wear hard contacts?? Keeping them in isn’t uncomfortable until the contact wears out, at least for me.

Nope, they were regular soft lenses. Apparently he was sleeping with them in and it just burst.
Meh. I guess I just have dry eyes or something. My mom’s even worse…

I had a friend that used to leave his in for way too long and the contact ended up wearing away and developing a tiny hole, and with that hole came a tiny edge, and with that tiny edge came a scratch on his cornea, and that was just about the most painful thing he has ever experienced, or so he tells me.

that was one looooong sentence, huh?

hm…mine were supposed to last 2 wks.
I’ve had them in for about two years, if not more.
I seriously need to get new ones because these get dry really fast.
also, i think they may be the cause of my new sty(e?).
great.

I recently developed an oversensitivity to even a week’s worth of protein buildup. (I have worn 30-day contacts for many years and slept in them comfortably and cheated as much as two weeks). So now I have to buy dailies which are significantly more expensive, but may be able to go back to extended-wear in a year. My advice is to invest in a pair of frames that you love, so that you aren’t tempted to cheat.

ok here i m confused ,,the 14 day disposable lenses r good for 14 uses or 14 days i mean like they can b good up to a month if v dont wear them 14 times or no matter what v have to dipose them off after 14 days even though v didnt use them for 14 times ,,,,