Do you wear contact lenses regularly and sometimes enjoy relaxing with an alcoholic drink? You might have experienced the uncomfortable sensation of dry, gritty eyes the morning after. The connection between alcoholic beverages and eye health for contact lens wearers isn’t widely known, but it’s incredibly important. Alcohol doesn’t just dehydrate your body; it can also cause significant risks to your sensitive eyes, especially when you’re still wearing your contact lenses.
This article from European Eye Center will delve into how alcohol impacts your eyes, the specific risks you might face when wearing contact lenses during or after consuming alcohol, and practical tips to protect your vision and keep your eyes comfortable and healthy.
How Does Alcohol Make Your Eyes Dry and Uncomfortable When Wearing Contact Lenses?
To keep your eyes lubricated and healthy, our tear glands constantly produce tears. This tear film not only lubricates the eyeball but also delivers oxygen and nutrients to the cornea (the transparent front part of the eye) and flushes away dust and bacteria.
Alcoholic beverages are notorious for their strong diuretic effect. This means they cause your body to excrete more fluids through urine, quickly leading to overall dehydration. When your body is dehydrated, tear production is directly affected. Tears become scarcer and of poorer quality, leading to typical dry eye symptoms such as:
- A gritty, foreign body sensation in the eyes
- Burning, itching
- Red eyes, fatigue
- Even reflex tearing (your eyes’ attempt to compensate for dryness)
- Temporary blurry vision
For contact lens wearers, this issue becomes even more pronounced. Contact lenses sit directly on the eye’s surface, and no matter how advanced the technology, they can still reduce the amount of oxygen reaching the cornea and impede the even distribution of tears. When your body is dehydrated due to alcohol, your contact lenses can become dry and rigid, clinging more tightly to your eyes, causing friction and extreme discomfort.
Hidden Risks When Wearing Contact Lenses & Consuming Alcohol
Beyond dryness and discomfort, the combination of contact lenses and alcoholic beverages carries several more serious eye health risks:
1. Enhanced Dry Eye Syndrome and Discomfort
As mentioned, alcohol causes dehydration. If you wear contact lenses, your eyes already tend to be drier. This combination creates a “perfect storm” of dry eye, making you feel incredibly uncomfortable, itchy, and eager to remove your lenses immediately. This can lead to excessive eye rubbing, increasing the risk of damage to the eye’s surface.
2. Increased Risk of Eye Infections
Alcohol-induced dry eyes compromise the protective tear film, making your eyes more vulnerable to damage and creating a favorable environment for bacteria to proliferate. Furthermore, reduced tear production means your eyes and contact lenses are less effectively flushed of bacteria and debris. This significantly raises the risk of eye infections like conjunctivitis or keratitis.
3. Over-Wearing or Sleeping in Contact Lenses: Extremely Dangerous!
This is one of the biggest and most common risks associated with drinking alcohol while wearing contact lenses. After drinking, you might easily forget to remove your contact lenses before going to bed. Sleeping in contact lenses is already ill-advised, but doing so after consuming alcohol is even more perilous:
- Severe Corneal Oxygen Deprivation: When you sleep, your eyelids are closed, significantly reducing the oxygen supply to the cornea. Contact lenses further exacerbate this oxygen deprivation. The combination of oxygen deprivation, alcohol-induced dry eyes, and lenses that stick tightly to the eye can cause corneal swelling, corneal abrasions (damage to the outermost layer of the cornea), and even corneal ulcers.
- Risk of Bacterial Corneal Ulcers: A dry, oxygen-deprived environment with the presence of contact lenses is an ideal breeding ground for bacteria, particularly Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which can cause rapid and severe corneal ulcers, leading to permanent corneal scarring or even complete vision loss.
- Difficulty Removing Lenses: Dry contact lenses can stick firmly to the eye, causing pain and potential damage to the eye’s surface when you try to remove them the next morning.
>> All About Contact Lenses: A Complete Guide to Safe and Effective Use
Expert Tips: Protect Your Eyes While Wearing Contact Lenses & Drinking Alcohol
To minimize risks and keep your eyes healthy, strictly follow these recommendations from eye care professionals:
- Limit Alcohol Intake and Rehydrate:
- Control the amount of alcohol you consume. Less alcohol means less dehydration for your body and healthier eyes.
- Always alternate alcoholic drinks with water or non-alcoholic beverages to help your body maintain hydration.
- Always Be Ready for “Dry Eye Emergencies”:
- Carry a bottle of lubricating eye drops (artificial tears) specifically formulated for contact lens wearers. Use them regularly to soothe and hydrate your eyes when they feel dry or uncomfortable.
- Never use saliva or tap water to moisten contact lenses or your eyes. This can introduce dangerous bacteria.
- The Golden Rule: NEVER SLEEP IN CONTACT LENSES!
- This is the most critical advice. No matter how tired or intoxicated you are, prioritize removing your contact lenses before going to bed. If you’re worried you might forget, remove them as soon as you get home and switch to glasses.
- Consider switching to daily disposable contact lenses. These lenses reduce the risk of infection, and you can easily discard them each evening, eliminating the need for cleaning and reducing the chance of forgetting to remove them.
- Choose the Right Contact Lenses:
- Consult your ophthalmologist to select contact lenses with high oxygen permeability (often silicone hydrogel lenses). These types of lenses allow your cornea to “breathe” better.
- Avoid colored contact lenses, as they are often thicker and can impede oxygen flow.
- Practice Strict Hygiene:
- Always wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water before touching your eyes or contact lenses.
- Follow the correct cleaning, disinfecting, and storage procedures for your reusable contact lenses according to the manufacturer’s and your doctor’s instructions. Never reuse old lens solution.
- Healthy Diet & Lifestyle:
- Supplement your diet with beneficial nutrients for eye health like Omega-3 (found in fatty fish, flaxseeds), Lutein, and Zeaxanthin (found in dark leafy greens, corn, eggs).
- Avoid smoking, as it’s an independent risk factor for dry eyes and many other eye conditions.
>> Swimming with Contact Lenses: Understanding Risks and Protecting Your Eyes from Infection
Conclusion: Take Proactive Steps to Protect Your Eyes!
Wearing contact lenses and consuming alcoholic beverages is a combination that requires careful consideration. Understanding how alcohol affects your body and eyes, especially the risk of dry eyes and severe complications from sleeping in lenses, is the first step to protecting your vision. Always prioritize the safety and health of your eyes. By adhering to these basic principles and listening to your body’s signals, you can continue to enjoy life without sacrificing your precious sight.
At European Eye Center, we are committed to providing European-standard eye care, with a professional and dedicated team of doctors and staff. If you have any questions about dry eyes, contact lens prescriptions, or other eye care services, please don’t hesitate to contact us for the best advice and support.
