Eye doctors: Do eyes produce extra tears when you wear contacts?

I'm just trying to figure out what exactly happens in the "Adjustment Period" of getting new contact lenses. I got them yesterday and wore them for 4 hours after leaving the office, as directed. And today, I am to wear them for 6 hours, working up to 10hours over the next few days with 2hour increments. Is my eye physically acclimating to the contact lenses? Is it progressively "learning" to produce more tears? What's going on with this "adjustment period"?

(I would have asked yesterday, but with all my other questions, I just forgot about this curiosity. Thanks to all who take the time to answer :) )

Extra tears aren't bothering me. I'm just wondering why you have to work up to wearing them all day. What happens during the "break in" period?

Actually, the "adjustment period" is a throw back to the hard contact lenses of the 70's and 80's. The lenses at that time were not highly oxygen permeable so it was necessary to slowly increase ones wearing schedule so as to allow the cornea to adapt to a lower oxygen level. In addition, lens designs of that era were not as comfortable as today's lenses so easing into lens wear made it easier to adapt to the sensation of the lens on the eye.

In my practice we don't really get too excited about "adjustment periods". With the high oxygen gas permeable and soft lens designs availabe today we simply recommend wearing the lens the first day as long as the lens is comfortable and enjoyable to wear. Oxygen transmission is really no longer a factor. So, as long as you are comfortable with your lenses, in my opinion, it is safe to wear them your entire waking hours. Hope this helped.

at the beginning...yes.

later...no.

Once your eyes get used to the lenses then you should be fine and there won't be any extra tears.

I don't know the exact reason for the progressive wearing times you have to follow when you initially get contact lenses, but i do know about the extra tears. As contacts dry out on the surface of your eye, your eyes needs to produce more tears to keep themselves moist - however, they get 'tired' (yes, the word used by my optician! lol) after long periods, thats why so many contact lens wearers suffer from dry eye later on in the day.

In your "adjustment period" the eye does produce more tears but only as long as you "feel" your contacts-as you know it stings when you get them inserted for the first time -with time the eye" learns" "not to care about" the foreign body in it and you don't feel your contacts anymore.Actually the corneal sensitivity decreases in your adjustment period (otherwise contacts wearing would be impossible)And after years this causes a decrease in tear production-DRY EYE