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I wear soft contacts and was wondering if anyone else who wears them opens their eyes under water. I've always just kept my eyes closed when under water because I was worried about my contacts getting washed out. They make such a tight seal on the eye though, that I wonder if they would stay in place.
I may just wait until it's time for these to come out anyway and then give it a try.
I lost a contact lens several years ago while swimming underwater with my eyes open. While they make a tight seal on your eye, I suspect all that water can wash them loose.
And while it is relatively easy to find a contact on the bathroom floor, it is impossible to find one in a pool! :rolleyes:
I have soft contacts. I use goggles when I swim though. I have opened my eyes a few times during diving, forgetting I don't have my goggles on and my contacts stayed in. I think I was lucky though. It wouldn't take much for them to get washed away.
For me, I just have to look under my foot. LOL! I always seem to step on them while looking for them. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by GraceByDesign
That's about what I thought. I usually do wear goggles when I swim, but we will be getting a swcg with our pool, so of course, I want to see if it is easier on the eyes like everyone says - guess I'll have to do it without contacts though.
I wear soft contacts and always swim with them and always open my eyes. Haven't lost one yet.
C.
When I wore contacts, I always swam with them because I was extremely nearsighted and couldn't make it into the pool with out them. I wore hard contacts and soft,never lost a one. I had Implanted contact lenses placed 8 years ago...too blind for Lasix...they work great BUT now I cannot see a thing under water ,goggle make it a bit clearer but not much. My eye doctor tried to explain why, but over my head!
My husband has opened his eyes in our pool with his soft lenses in. I'm too much of a chicken to open my eyes with or without my contacts in (unless I'm wearing goggles), so I have no personal experience.
My eye doctor said this is a "no-no." Something about bacteria or chemicals getting absorbed into the soft lenses. I suppose if you wore disposables, it wouldn't be a problem as you could throw them out when you were done swimming.
Maybe I was just unlucky:(
my doctor told me that soft contacts want to stick to the wetter surface - which is why trying to put them in with wet hands is hard. I was told not to even wear them in the pool - let alone open my eyes underwater. I have never tried it because it would cost me about $400 to replace one.
I would not recommend wearing contact lenses while in the pool and would strongly caution against opening your eyes while swimming. Most soft lens are permutable causing materials in the pool to seep into the lens. The resulting mix of chemicals may damage the cornea. I would also be worried about contamination of the lens by microbes possible causing conjunctivitis or corneal infection. I have seen a case of Pseudomonas conjunctivitis from contaminated contact lens but I don’t remember the source.
Steve
Goggles are cheap. Why risk it?