Your risk of an eye infection increases significantly.In serious causes there infections can cause permanent corneal damage & vision loss. Despite some contact lenses being approved for overnight wear, it is still not recommended to sleep with contactlenses.

When you are awake, blinking of your eyes keeps your eyes moist & oxygen can flow in through the tears which are produced.Contact lenses cover your cornea, significantly cutting the amount of oxygen & moisture your eyes can receive & when you are sleeping, that decrease in oxygen becomes even more severe. Without enough oxygen a state called hypoxia develops, whereby the cells in cornea lose their ability to fight bacteria effectively.

Hence it puts you at an increased risk of bacterial& fungal keratitis. But if you still make mistake of sleeping with lenses on & you can’t remove the dried out sticky lenses easily next morning don’t pullthe lenses to remove them. Instill several drops of lubricating eye drops in your eyes to wet them eyes so that the extra lubrication can dislodge the lenses.

Also don’t wear your contact lenses for a day & notice how your eyes are feeling. If there ispain, blurry vision, dryness, redness or watery eyesthen please consult your eye surgeon without further delay.