Air Optix Night And Day Contact Lenses

Thinking about switching to Air Optix Night and Day contacts and wondering if they’re a good choice? 

Here’s a guide to extended-wear contact lenses like Air Optix Night and Day. We’ll cover who can wear them, plus some of the advantages and disadvantages. 

Once you’ve got the basics down, talk to your eye doctor about whether these contacts may be right for you.

What are night and day contact lenses?

Night and day contact lenses are contacts that may be worn both during the day and at night while you’re sleeping. Night and day contacts also may be referred to as continuous wear contacts or extended-wear (EW) contacts.

Some EW contacts are approved for up to a week of continuous wear, while others are approved for up to 30 days of continuous wear. Contacts that can be worn for 30 days straight, like Air Optix Night and Day Aqua, also may be known as monthly contact lenses or 30-day contact lenses.

Night and day contacts may be a good option if you often take naps or accidentally fall asleep in your contacts, and may be a good alternative to laser eye surgery for some patients.

How long can you wear Air Optix Night and Day contacts?

Air Optix Night and Day Aqua contacts are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be worn for up to 30 days continuously. That means you may be able to wear these contacts for as long as 30 days and 30 nights without taking them out. 

But not everyone can tolerate extended-wear contacts for the maximum time period approved by the FDA. Some wearers will need to take breaks from the lenses during the 30 days and nights. About 80% of users can tolerate some extended wear. Only about two-thirds can wear Air Optix Night and Day Aqua contacts for the full 30 nights. 

If you’re new to extended-wear lenses, your eye doctor will help you set a wearing schedule to see how well your eyes tolerate extended-wear contacts and to gradually increase the amount of time you can wear the lenses.

Are night and day contacts safe to wear?

It’s important to think about the safety of extended-wear contact lenses. If you use daily wear contacts, your eye doctor likely has told you it’s not safe to sleep in your contacts.

But many patients can safely sleep in night and day contacts because they’re thinner than daily wear contacts and they’re typically made of silicone hydrogel, a material that allows more oxygen to reach your corneas.

However, extended-wear contacts may increase your risk of some problems. Risks of wearing contacts overnight include:

• Corneal ulcer – Some users of extended-wear contacts develop a corneal ulcer that can cause blurry vision, eye pain and redness. 

• Eye infection – Your risk of getting an eye infection, such as acanthamoeba keratitis or pink eye, may be higher with extended-wear contacts than with daily wear contacts. 

• Vision loss – Rarely, an infection or other complication could cause vision loss.

It’s riskier for smokers to use extended-wear contacts, so tell your eye doctor if you smoke.

To cut down on the risks of extended-wear contacts, your eye doctor may recommend a “flexible wear” schedule. With flexible wear, you take your contacts out most nights and only sleep in them when necessary — such as when you’re crashing at a friend’s house or taking a red-eye flight. 

If you wear your contacts for the maximum time allowed, you’ll discard them when you take them out. Otherwise, you’ll need to clean, rinse and disinfect them just as you would any reusable soft contacts. It’s always important to care for soft contact lenses the right way to keep your eyes healthy. 

Regardless of whether you’re on an extended or flexible wear schedule, the manufacturer recommends Air Optix Night and Day contacts should be discarded after a month and replaced with a new pair.

Air Optix Night and Day Aqua vs. Air Optix Aqua

Wondering what the difference is between Air Optix Night and Day Aqua and Air Optix Aqua? These are two of the types of extended-wear contact lenses that Alcon offers in the Air Optix family of contact lenses.

The Air Optix Night and Day Aqua is FDA approved for up to 30 days of continuous night and day wear, while the Air Optix Aqua is FDA approved for up to 6 nights of continuous night and day wear.

After wearing the contact lenses for the maximum amount of time, it’s recommended to give your eyes a break from lenses overnight — or longer based on your eye doctor’s recommendation.

Both types of lenses use Alcon SmartShield technology, a coating that helps to keep the lenses moist and reduce deposits.

Am I a good candidate for monthly wear contacts?

Some patients like the idea of monthly contacts because they dislike having to put contacts in every morning, take them out each night and clean and disinfect them daily. Monthly wear contacts also may be a good option for you if you are very active or have a varied schedule, sometimes nap or fall asleep in contacts, or travel a lot.

It’s also important that your eyes are healthy and you can tolerate wearing contact lenses for an extended time. Your eye doctor will tell you if you can wear extended-wear contacts and whether to try wearing them overnight.

Talk to your eye doctor about extended-wear contacts

Think you might want to try night and day contacts? Keep in mind that you will need to visit your eye doctor for an eye exam, a contact lens fitting and a prescription for contact lenses. 

Ask your eye doctor if you might be a candidate for extended-wear lenses. Your eye doctor might even be able to give you a pair of trial lenses so you can try before you buy.

Page published on Thursday, May 27, 2021