Contact Lenses and Swimming

[Jodi1980]

If you wear contact lenses, do you take them out to go swimming?

 

[yoko]

No. For serious lap swimming, I just wear goggles. When I get in the water for fun (such as water parks and splash pools), I just shut my eyes under water.

I have those 30-day disposable kind, though. So it won't be a great loss if I did lose it. If you have very expensive ones, you might want to take them out, I suppose.

 

[DisneyHumbug]

My DD always leaves hers in and also uses goggles for laps. When we go to WDW (or anywhere else where she'll be swimming) I always make sure we bring along an extra pair.

 

[Jordan's MOM]

My water happy 11 yr old has contacts and what we did was to invest in a good pair of water proof goggles from a good spots goods store. His are "water seals" for kids and cost about 20.00. The adult size is about 30.00. He opens his eyes under water, and does all the normal kids stuff and has not had a problem at all.


Jordan's mom

 

[Jordan's MOM]

My water happy 11 yr old has contacts and what we did was to invest in a good pair of water proof goggles from a good spots goods store. His are "water seals" for kids and cost about 20.00. The adult size is about 30.00. He opens his eyes under water, and does all the normal kids stuff and has not had a problem at all.


Jordan's mom

 

[obnurse2003]

KEEP your old contacts , the ones that you were going to throw away after your 30 days are up. Wear those, so if they get washed away and lost, you haven't really "lost" anything. I NEVER swim with my current "good" pair. Mine are toric lenses and much too expensive to lose. BUT, I keep all my old ones and wear a pair just to swim,. Somehow, they never seem to stay in place even when I am just treading water!

 

[LKS]

I swim in mine and I have disposables too, but I used to swim in regular ones and have never lost one in 25 years of wearing lenses. Whenever I come up out of the water though, I HAVE to wipe my eyes with my hands before I open them, or too much water gets in. This is a real handicap for waterskiing because I am not good enough to ski one-handed while I wipe my eyes. Goggles don't work well for that either. Fortunately we do not go often. But, swimming is no problem. If I am swimming laps, I, too, wear good goggles.

 

[HeyMickey]

I never thought of keeping my old contacts for swimming. That's a really good idea.

I always seem to lose mine on waterslides. Actual swimming is usually okay, but I guess they're easier to lose with all the water splashing up at you on a slide. Goggles have never done anything for me but give me eye infections.

 

[primax]

I always wear mine and have lost many many lenses in pools! I have insurance on my lenses because I lose so many. For $25 a year my lense insurance only reduces the prices of my lenses by $20. Thus when I lose two pairs or rip two pairs in a year I make out. I have not gone a year without at least two mishaps in 16 years of wearing lenses. I have no idea what kind of lenses I have, I just know they are expensive and should last a year if I do not lose or rip one. I tried disposable for 1 month. Hated them, my vision just was not as clear as the one I wear now.

 

[Disneylovers]

I've worn contacts for 25 years. I wear goggles if I plan on doing any type of "serious" swimming. Otherwise, I wear my sunglasses in the water. They protect my eyes from most splashes. If I see a big splash coming, I close my eyes!

 

[DisneyDiver]

To be honest, I've never lost lenses in the pool... and I never wear goggles at Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon. Just use common sense and shut your eyes at bits when you're gonna get splashed in the face.

 

[kristamil]

Here's a sweet story about a dedicated dad, a silly girl, and a pair of swimming lenses:

When I was 13, I had gotten gas permeable (rigid) contacts after wearing glasses for 4 years. I was so proud of my new look.

That summer, we took a trip to Myrtle Beach and I was swimming in the hotel pool. As I was coming up from under the water, I opened my eyes a second too early and my contacts literally floated out of my eyes. My dad was livid and I was so embarrassed to go back to my glasses again.

My wonderful dad got up at 6am the next morning when the pool was being vacuumed and asked the attendant if he could search through the filter to try and find my contacts. Amazingly enough, he did find one that day and found the other one the next day by the same method. I couldn't believe it and was so thankful!



Needless to say, I don't wear my contacts swimming. I am now 32 and that experience obviously left an impression on me for life! But, I also found out the lengths that fathers will go for their daughters!

When I saw the subject of this thread, this story immediately popped into my head. Thanks for allowing me to share!

Have a Disney Day!

 

[littleeyz]

This is my first post and I just wanted to pass some information regarding swimming in contact lenses.

I am an optometrist, and most of us tell our patients not to swim in contact lenses. It has nothing to do with losing them, but all to do with potential infection by Acanthamoeba. This resides in swimming pools, lakes, ponds, rivers, and the ocean. Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing if it is in the body of water you are swimming in. Should it infiltrate your lenses and you don't throw those lenses away as soon as you are done swimming, Acanthamoeba can infect the eyes, and people can have permanent vision loss within two days. This infection is very difficult to diagnose and extremely difficult to treat.

I'm not trying to lecture, I just want people to be careful about swimming in contact lenses

Thanks for reading!

 

[splashfamily]

Well, now we know. I am off to the pool later today and I guess I am not going underwater. Too bad my optometrist didn't mention that before. I guess that's why I get styes in the summer months.