Swimming with Contact Lenses

Yes Boston Gas Perms for 30 years. Lost a half dozen not realizing they were floating in the bottom of my goggles when I pulled em off (again just last week!). Worst is having to pop one out to clean in your mouth right after a workout and inhaling it because you're breathing so hard :badday: I haven't had any negative experiences. Really?? Man I must be a clutz!

I've opted to wear my soft contacts while I swim-I just make sure I adjust my goggles for fit periodically during my swim.Without them I would be so blind,just an accident waiting to happen-plus,not seeing in focus makes me really nauseous.What could be irritating your eyes is the vacuum you create when you suction your goggles to your face.If you do not remove your goggles every so often during a swim it pretty much prevents your contacts from 'breathing'.Rinsing them off after your swim is not a bad idea-I don't, since I have no problems with mine-but it can't hurt. I'm currently sitting out of the pool because I had a nasty allergic reaction to something in one eye ....the pain and light sensitivity in finaly got so bad I drove myself to the eye Dr. while covering the bad eye with my hand.Doing steroid and antibiotic eye drops now and I am not taking any chances with going in the pool until this is cleared up.Not wearing any contacts or either-sucks big time.....but my vision is already crap-I can't afford to blind myself completely!

I always thought swimming with contacts would be a terrible way to spend the rest of the day -red red eyes! So I always took them out, and even fashioned a personal pace clock out of a $3.99 clock you can get at Target. And I always spent the day with red red eyes. A friend suggested swimming with then and while it was great to see around me, my eyes are actually less irritated. Anybody know why? And if anyone wants the instructions on making a personal pace clock let me know.

I've been swimming for 20 years now and I wear contacts for 20 years. I never got the advice not to wear them during swimming. Having said that, I never mentioned my swimming. I never had a problem as long as water doesn't get into my goggles(I never lost a contact ever nor did I get red eyes). Without my contacts I'm blind as a bat. I never wear my glasses anywhere in public because I'm farsighted which makes your eyes look huge with glasses(like a super nerd). What I think is great are these new bungee straps for my swedes. It makes adjusting a lot easier. I just remembered that I did used to get red eyes from my contacts but I assumed it was because of the contact lenses and not from swimming. I used to use Focus monthly contact lenses. After that i switched to Cibavison Night&Day lenses and never had a problem again.

Wow... a lot of interesting responses here. Thanks all. Lenses aren't an issue during the swim so much as after I tend to feel that my eyes are mildly irritated as if I haven't worn goggles in the pool. It oculd be working in the aquatic environment causing or adding to this and not the swim per se. I think I'll do a midday rinse and see if that helps out. As soon as I started swimming 3+ times per week I had that happen, in fact they seemed to feel dry and itchy for days, so I switched to optical goggles. I put it down to still living in the dark ages and wearing RGPs rather than daily disposables, or maybe it was the chemicals? I do sometimes swim in my contacts, but not often, and always SCUBA'ed in them, but I've not done that in about 7 years.

I've been wearing contacts to swim (with goggles) for as long as I can remember. Like you said, nearly all of my eye doctors have advised against this. Oddly when I had my eyes checked in Dec with a new doctor, she wasn't concerned at all. I used to take a case, solution, glasses, extra lenses, etc with me in my swim bag. But I stopped doing that years ago. Occasionally I've lost a lens somewhere, driven home using one eye to guide me, but that happened only 3 or so times, the last was at least 3 years ago.

So the optician usually tell you not to wear them in the pool...well that ain't happening if I need to see a clock or the workout typed in anything less than REALLY BIG FONT. So I a curious who out there wears contacts and if you rinse them after you swim to remove any chlorine or contaminants. I find that I get very sore and dry eyes by the end of the day even if using drops. sO just looking for input. definitely will troll this thread - have an appointment on 3/20 for exactly the same reason - can't see the pace clock, watch, and have squint to see the workout. Wondering if disposables are the best idea and what to do about distance and reading vision. My wife has two diffferent contacts.

Before I had LASIK, I played college water polo wearing soft contacts. By comparison, swimming with goggles was a piece of cake!

I just came across ortho-k where you wear the contact at night to reshape the cornea for corrected vision in the day without lenses. Sounds interesting. Kinda like a retainer for your eyes. www.allaboutvision.com/.../orthok.htm

Three quick notes about the pace clock I made.... I'm not sure the link goes to the correct clock but Target does/did have a $4.99 one. It's the same packaging though so you'll know what you're looking for. And before you glue the laminated pace clock face in place, make sure you've cut it at a circumference that fits. My jpeg might be a little larger intentionally so the black border covers the underface entirely. Again, if you need anythng, please let me know. And it won't stand up on it's own (why didn't Target make a square one?), so I glued a little base on the bottom. You could also add a little rope and hang it the starting block. Patrick, Thanks for the response. I printed out the face and the link and will try to stop at target over the weekend - i can get the face laminated at kinkos or staples, both nearby. A great idea. May make two - one for each end. And, most importantly: HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY