what makes eyes sting in the pool?

[cygnusecks]

Depends on the type of stinging. If you mean the type where you dunk your head in once, and the moment you surface and air hits your eyes, it stings, then that's something other than chlorine. If, on the other hand, you mean the type of stinging where when you're done swimming and out of the pool for a while and you have residual stinging, then that might be chloramines.

A lot of people will say it's combined chlorine, a.k.a. chloramines, that causes all eye irritation, but I don't buy it. I tested my water yesterday and it has 0 combined chlorine. It has 4ppm of free chlorine. And my eyes stung a little after 4-5 hours of swimming. And, if you dunk your head in pure bleach, my guess is your eyes will sting there too, and there's no combined chlorine in there.

I think it's a combination of many things, including your susceptability to eye irritation in general, allergies, chloramines, pH levels, calcium levels, salt levels, etc.

Have you ever been swimming where your eyes DO NOT sting? If not, you may just be that type of person who might want to consider goggles all the time...

My advice: post a full set of water chemistry testing results and maybe someone can spot something wrong.. also do you have allergies?