What happens if you wear your contacts longer than recommended?

So, you wanna know about wearing disposable contacts longer than recommended? You’ve come to the right place. Everyone knows someone who “stretches” their contact lenses. These stretchers might brag about wearing daily lenses for weeks or monthly lenses for years.

Stretching contacts may save some money, at least in the short term, but it poses health risks that’ll likely cost you in the long run. Below, we’ll talk about what can happen if you wear contacts for longer than is recommended. But first…

Let’s talk modalities. Contact lens modalities include dailies, biweeklies, and monthlies. Shoutout to this fantastic source for informing the following three sections.

How long can you wear daily contacts?

You can wear most daily contacts for 14 hours a day. Once you’re done with a daily lens, you simply take it out and toss it. Or, if you’re feeling fancy, you can get a tiny glass bathtub and put your used dailies in there. Your call.

How long can you wear biweekly contacts?

A maximum of 14 days. Makes sense, with two weeks being 14 days and all. For some people, biweeklies are the just-right, Goldilocks modality. They’re usually less expensive than dailies and comfier than monthlies.

How long can you wear monthly contacts?

According to our research, monthly lenses last 30 days. They’re one of the oldest modalities and a great option for the cost-conscious, which is probably just about all of us when gas is $5+ per gallon.

Can you wear contacts longer than the recommended time?

Can you? Yes. Should you? No. Dr. Troy Bedinghaus says it best in an article from verywellhealth.com: “Contact lenses are medical devices. Be sure to follow proper cleaning and wearing instructions to keep your eyes safe and healthy.”

Manufacturers carefully set the recommended wear time for each contact lens modality, and you put your eyes at risk if you wear your contacts longer than recommended.

What happens to your contacts if you wear them for longer than recommended?

Debris buildup, dryness, that kind of stuff. The more important question is, what happens to your eyeballs if you wear your contacts for longer than recommended? Cause eyeballs aren’t as disposable as contact lenses.

Wearing contacts for longer than is recommended can lead to eye infections, corneal problems, hypoxia (a lack of oxygen flowing to the eye), inflammation, pink eye, distorted vision, and potentially even blindness. The risk of an eye infection increases the longer you wear contacts continuously. In short, stretching contacts could cost your eye health and a whole lot of money.

If you’re tempted to wear contacts for longer than recommended for financial reasons, try saving money in other ways. Talk with your doctor about the possibility of switching to a different brand or modality. There are like a gajillion different options. And we’re almost guaranteed to have your brand in stock and ready to ship for free.