Swimming with contact lenses

mandi

I wore contacts for over 30 years until two years ago & I used to swim regularly without any problems .

I contracted a bacterial infection from a dirty pool which resulted in two corneal ulcers

The pain was excruciating and the eye consultant was called in at 9 am as an emergency on a Sunday morning to see me.

As a result my sight was saved thankfully.

I can't wear my contacts any more but at least I can see .

:j

My advice would be to leave any contact lenses out when swimming .

Nicki

terra_ferma wrote: »

I've welcomed all the advice I've received from people who don't just make a short, inaccurate statement, but make an effort to share information, personal experience, links etc. (practically everybody who has replied actually, I've had a lot of useful tips here, which I'm grateful for).
I wouldn't call one-sentence, inaccurate posts 'expert advice' though, your second post sounded quite rude and arrogant actually, starting with 'well' and ending with a question mark, hence my response.
And I never said that I don't want to buy prescription goggles (well it's not my decision anyway), just that what you said was wrong.

You didn't thank Glaswejen's post and she is an opthalmologist who has been posting on these boards giving advice on issues relating to eye tests, glasses and lenses for many years. The respected eye equivalent of toothsmith and brookjack in fact. You also didn't thank me when I suggested prescription goggles and said you could buy them online quite cheaply. In fact you called me a know it all I seem to recall.

As for needing academic articles, I believe I already posted a link to one for you. However if you will really read more, and understand them rather than just dismiss them rather superciliously, there is always google!

nedmundo

terra_ferma wrote: »

I've welcomed all the advice I've received from people who don't just make a short, inaccurate statement, but make an effort to share information, personal experience, links etc. (practically everybody who has replied actually, I've had a lot of useful tips here, which I'm grateful for).
I wouldn't call one-sentence, inaccurate posts 'expert advice' though, your second post sounded quite rude and arrogant actually, starting with 'well' and ending with a question mark, hence my response.
And I never said that I don't want to buy prescription goggles (well it's not my decision anyway), just that what you said was wrong.

I'm not going to row with you, but you asked for advice, were given (accurate) facts & advice from myself (an Optometrist) and another Optician here (Jen), along with others experiences.

Yet you still question their validity and are being pedandic about minor differences in cost? We're not dealing with rocket science here, swimming with contact lenses, along with showering is high risk for contracting serious, sight threatening disease. Prescription goggles are cheaper and safer.

terra_ferma

Nicki wrote: »

You didn't thank Glaswejen's post and she is an opthalmologist who has been posting on these boards giving advice on issues relating to eye tests, glasses and lenses for many years. The respected eye equivalent of toothsmith and brookjack in fact. You also didn't thank me when I suggested prescription goggles and said you could buy them online quite cheaply. In fact you called me a know it all I seem to recall.

As for needing academic articles, I believe I already posted a link to one for you. However if you will really read more, and understand them rather than just dismiss them rather superciliously, there is always google!

Thanking a post is not compulsory, and it's up to each individual poster to decide who they want to thank.
However I thanked two out of three of your post, so I think you are being argumentative for the sake of it. I even thanked the first post I didn't agree with, because you took the trouble to post a link which helped making my mind up on that subject.

Certain other posts were not thanked because they were being rude, e.g. starting with 'oh come on'... and ending with "If you can't follow that advice than you shouldn't be wearing contact lenses." doesn't sound very helpful and polite to me, regardless of the qualifications of the person writing it (and I'm not trying to pick an argument with anyone, I haven't got time for that, just explaining as you brought it up).

Regarding professional status, first of all I don't wear contact lenses myself, and I've never had reasons to read threads about eye problems, so to me all of the posters are equal. Also anyone on these boards can claim to be a brain surgeon if they wish, so I normally take claims with a pinch of salt particularly when the tone of the post is a bit like 'you are stupid if you don't do as I say, just because I say so' instead of backing their claims, particularly when they contradict advice from official sources (as a general rule, not aimed at anyone, as I said I'm not familiar with people posting about eye problems, it's mainly based on topics I know enough about to easily spot bull...).
You may have noticed that my OP was asking for advice from people wearing contact lenses, for that very reason.

nedmundo

If you want to tell your DD that it's fine to swim in lenses 'cos the Dailiy Mail is just scaremongering and those nice people on the tinternet said so, despite not having any qualifications, traceability and accountability than that's entirely up to you.

Logic and common sense would dictate otherwise - for both financial and serious risk reasons.

terra_ferma

nedmundo wrote: »

If you want to tell your DD that it's fine to swim in lenses 'cos the Dailiy Mail is just scaremongering and those nice people on the tinternet said so, despite not having any qualifications, traceability and accountability than that's entirely up to you.

Logic and common sense would dictate otherwise - for both financial and serious risk reasons.

I've not said what she is going to do. As I said if she decides that she wants to swim regularly she will be getting professional advice from her optician, for now the official advice from the NHS and BCLA is what she will go by, I don't think that's so irresponsible....
What I think would be irresponsible is to follow any advice given on an online forum, except for getting useful pointers on the options available and sources of information.
And this is my last 'argumentative' post, implying I'm irresponsible/stupid or whatever just because I want to follow official advice from relevant sources seems odd.

pinkteapot

I got prescription Speedo goggles for £14 from eBay (brand new, not used).

They're like the £10 glasses you get from Wilkos etc - same strength in both eye, and they don't correct astigmatism.

My proper glasses are -3.25 in one eye and -3.75 in the other, and I have the astigmatism prescription too. For my goggles I just bought a -3.50 pair. My vision is absolutely fine in them. I don't lose hubby at the pool anymore. :rotfl:

These are the ones I got:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Speedo-Vanquisher-Optical-Competition-Swim-Swimming-Goggles-Clear-Dioptar-3-5-/141315245252?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20e70b84c4

(shipped from the US but came within a couple of weeks)

Search eBay for "optical goggles".

EDIT: Sorry, just seen your reply in the thread saying her prescription is too strong for off the peg ones. I'll leave this reply here in case it helps anyone else.

nedmundo

http://metro.co.uk/2014/07/11/bug-eats-taiwanese-students-eyeballs-after-she-leaves-contacts-in-for-six-months-4794562/

A bit extreme, but the same bug that thrives in water.

browneyedbazzi

I'm a bit late to join this thread but thought it would be worth sharing what happened to me.

Last year I rather stupidly went for a swim in my contact lenses. I use continuous wear lenses that you sleep in and after my swim I just carried on with my day as usual. The day after I went swimming my right eye was a little sore. I shrugged it off as a bit of dust or something and carried on with my day. By the end of the day my eye was quite sore so I went home and took my lenses out and wore my glasses, hoping that a break from the lenses and a bit of air would resolve the problem. Within a couple of days my eye was very painful, red and watery so I went to the optician who found that I had an infection that was so bad it had eaten a hole through the surface of my eye. I had to be taken to hospital and was on high strength antibiotics 5 times a day for three weeks. It was another few weeks before my eyes recovered and I could go back to wearing contact lenses.

I still swim occasionally, but now I always wear goggles and I take my lenses out and clean them immediately after each swim (I'll wear my glasses until the following morning while the lenses are disinfected). Another option that was suggested to me was to use daily disposables while swimming - so swap out of my regular lenses into the disposables, swim, remove and bin the lenses then put my regular ones back in.

I hadn't realised until this thread how affordable prescription goggles can be - I think if I'm going to swim more I might look into getting a pair as that is probably the safest option.

terra_ferma

browneyedbazzi wrote: »

I'm a bit late to join this thread but thought it would be worth sharing what happened to me.

Last year I rather stupidly went for a swim in my contact lenses. I use continuous wear lenses that you sleep in and after my swim I just carried on with my day as usual. The day after I went swimming my right eye was a little sore. I shrugged it off as a bit of dust or something and carried on with my day. By the end of the day my eye was quite sore so I went home and took my lenses out and wore my glasses, hoping that a break from the lenses and a bit of air would resolve the problem. Within a couple of days my eye was very painful, red and watery so I went to the optician who found that I had an infection that was so bad it had eaten a hole through the surface of my eye. I had to be taken to hospital and was on high strength antibiotics 5 times a day for three weeks. It was another few weeks before my eyes recovered and I could go back to wearing contact lenses.

I still swim occasionally, but now I always wear goggles and I take my lenses out and clean them immediately after each swim (I'll wear my glasses until the following morning while the lenses are disinfected). Another option that was suggested to me was to use daily disposables while swimming - so swap out of my regular lenses into the disposables, swim, remove and bin the lenses then put my regular ones back in.

I hadn't realised until this thread how affordable prescription goggles can be - I think if I'm going to swim more I might look into getting a pair as that is probably the safest option.

Ouch, this sounds very painful (and so did Mandi's infection, from a previous post).
The advice makes sense, in particular removing them or using dailies. I think I'll suggest that the first time she uses goggles and removes the lenses asap after swimming, then if she wants to swim regularly dailies or prescription goggles (don't know which ones she'll prefer, but it also depends on what her optician says)