Contact Lenses - one cause of premature eye wrinkles ?

[oddish]

I am concerned that with constant and aggressive stretching of the delicate and thin eye area in inserting and removing contact lens, that we are damaging the skin around our eyes. I read how people say not to apply eye makeup too forcefully and not to tug or pull at the skin around the eye, as well as not remove the eye makeup too rigorously. But that just made me think about inserting contact lens, as well as when you need to remove them. There is no article about premature aging around the eye area from wearing contact lens when I did a search on Google (the search result brought back many and i mean MANY sites TRYING to sell you contacts...health is a good business to stay in, isn't it ? a miracle makeover...)

anyways, i don't want to buy contacts when it is being pushed on me by these companies, yet there is no education about the harms of wearing contacts anywhere on the web, that i can see. Sure, keep your lens clean...but what about the destructive effect on your cornea? my ophthalmologist discourages the wearing of contacts...so basically, since this is a beauty forum, and i know that by wearing hard contacts (RGP), it will allow by eyes to breath better and to harbour less bacteria on the lens, I am mainly concerned about stretching the skin around my eye area every day when I try to insert and remove my lens. Anyone's whose worn contacts will know how agressive one must be to our eyes when inserting and removing the lens...even more so than applying eye makeup (I hope).

So anyways, what is your thoughts on this subject? Is wearing contacts discourgaged if you want to stay looking young for a longer time? Or look attractive now without glasses and pay the price later down the road?

 

[tilloox45]

i hope that contacts don't contribute to premature aging around the eye area but i see your point. it's definitely valid...maybe i'll just get LASIK but i have a family member who's been wearing contacts for years and she doesn't have anymore lines etc... around her eyes than anyone else her age so maybe it just depends on your skin

 

[Guessgirl96]

just get contacts that stay in for a week or longer. I have week long contacts but I keep them in for about a month

One of them got stuck to my retina once and tore a tiny part of it when the dr took it out.

 

[WheresMyUmbrella]

One of them got stuck to my retina once and tore a tiny part of it when the dr took it out.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

 

[Guessgirl96]

yeah it HURT!!!!

 

[carmen_kass]

I heard some gross stories about contact lenses on the radio. This bride got home and started blow drying her hair, and the contact lenses melted in her eye from the heat of the dryer, so no prizes for guessing the moral of that story. Worse was when one guy was too scared to take his lenses out after getting home from the optician, he left them in for a year, then his eyesight got really bad and the blurry, so he put another pair of lenses over them and left them in on top of the old lenses for 8 months. Needless to say he needed surgery to the lenses from his retina because they became part of his iris.

 

[WheresMyUmbrella]

Oh my gaaaaaaahhhd! You guys are scaring the beejeezus out of me!

*running to swap contacts for eyeglasses*

 

[eunhe]

just get contacts that stay in for a week or longer. I have week long contacts but I keep them in for about a month

One of them got stuck to my retina once and tore a tiny part of it when the dr took it out.

it is anatomically impossible for your contact lens to tear a part of your retina. you must mean that it caused a corneal abrasion.

 

[Yanka]

The safest thing is - get one day contact lenses and don't leave them one for more then 12 hours.
I think you get more wrinkeles from squinting when you wear your glasses in the sun or before you put them on. And look at the models - they get like 4 layers of make up put on and off in one day, few of them have any traces of premature eye wrinkles because of it.

 

[Guessgirl96]

it is anatomically impossible for your contact lens to tear a part of your retina. you must mean that it caused a corneal abrasion.

I mixed up retina and cornea... It tore my cornea.

 

[eunhe]

agreed. dailies are the safest contact lenses with the lowest rate for microbial keratitis..

 

[Feline]

I never heard about wearing contacts causing wrinkles. I've had them since I was 14 which is over half my life & don't have any more wrinkles than non-contact lens wearing people of the same age. I've never had any eye infections/problems either. Mine are gas permeable and I get them replaced every 6 months

 

[ysljunkie]

hmmm

 

[alix*]

This thread is quite sickening

I find this quite interesting actually. You'd expect that to be a problem wih contact lenses.. but you've never heard or read about it anywhere.

But putting on lenses doesn't involve stretching the eye area that much though, well compared to removing eye makeup.

 

[Suburban Snob]

Oh boy, another thing to worry about as far as aging goes. I hope it doesn't give me wrinkles. I've been wearing my glasses a lot more lately mostly beacause I've been so lazy. LOL!

 

[Bluestar07]

I wore glasses until I was 18 and switched to contacts on advice to prevent my short-sightedness worsening (it's really quite bad) and it worked. I wear monthly disposables and have had no problems so far. I've heard about the wrinkle thing too but I think it's about as bad as applying make up or squinting. It's not something I can really avoid. When I wear my glasses, they tend to leave a darkish mark on the nose bridge where it rests and that hurts. I much prefer my contacts and I don't think my eyes are much more wrinkly that what I should expect.

 

[Eurasian Mélange]

I think applying and removing make-up would do more damage because when I decide to wear contact lenses I am only pressing on my skin around my eye and not pressing and rubbing repeatedly. Also, make-up and make-up removers have chemicals in them whereas your own fingers won't introduce any funny chemicals onto your skin that prematurely age it (unless you don't wash your hands).

 

[seanutbutter]

Posts #3 and 6 make me feel relieved I have 20/20 vision.

 

[PiratePenelope]

I never really thought about this to be quite honest, most likely because I've become so used to wearing my contacts that I don't even stretch the skin around my eyes to put them in.
And it's just my personal opinion but I think that even though it's something you do every day, it doesn't strain your skin more than removing make-up.

 

[softgrey]

funny...
this was always a concern of mine...
i mean...
ANY additional stretching or pulling on the skin around that area is NOT good...

that is simply a FACT...

how much damage it actually does is probably really hard to measure though...

*in any case...i opted not to find out and have always worn glasses..