Contact lenses.

[Kintail]

I'm thinking of having contact lenses. Any views on the practicalities or the downsides of wearing them? How do they react to a slap in the face from a ton of salt water? Any views welcome.

Thanks.

 

[duncan99210]

SWMBO wears them and swears by them. Originally got them for diving and found no problems retaining them even with a flooded mask, so a sea in the face shouldn't be a problem.

 

[vyv_cox]

I have worn them for many years. Surfed, raced catamarans, swum (and I always keep my eyes open under water) in them and only ever lost two, both in heavy dumping surf. So many advantages and so few disadvantages.

 

[maby]

Soft, daily disposables should be fine - by far the most comfortable anyway. I would be nervous of hard lenses for any physical activity - a blow to the eye could do real damage. Go for daily disposables rather than weekly or monthly - contact lens hygene is extremely important if you want to avoid very unpleasant infections and disinfecting lenses after they have been exposed to sea water is very difficult. Most opticians will tell you to not swim in lenses at all - I do swim with daily disposables in but remove them and throw them away as soon as I leave the water - they are very cheap and you can easily afford to replace a set two or three times per day if there is any question of them getting contaminated. Weekly, monthly or hard lenses are a lot more expensive and you will end up cleaning them for reuse - that was the only time I got into trouble with lenses! An eye infection is very difficult to clear because there is little blood flow there.

 

[maby]

P.S. sea water rapidly dehydrates lenses and makes them difficult to remove - keep it out of your eyes till you are really experienced at taking lenses out and be prepared to apply a lot of Optrex to rehydrate the lens before you take it out.

 

[DinghyMan]

I wear them just for diving, sailing, kayaking, swimming, etc, rather than continually and have done plenty of no-mask swims underwater on training courses and when practicing. The weekend before last it was a bit cold doing a mask exchange exercise on a training course! I've never lost a contact yet, famous last words, but use DaySoft lenses which are a bit bigger, and much cheaper, than the ones from the optician so probably have less chance of being lost than standard ones.

 

[doug748]

I have worn lenses since 1971 when my first pair cost 60 guineas. I used to wear bins about 1inch thick.

If you can get on with them they are triffic things.

You will never look back





So to speak.

 

[DaveS]

I also have worn lenses for sailing for many years, and I would agree with their advantages. There is a downside, though: with the lenses in, for reading or looking at the chart I need to put on cheap reading glasses, or use a magnifying glass. Last year I experimented with going back to using glasses for sailing (varifocals - v. cheap 2nd pair under one of Specsaver's deals) and found it more convenient - but that was mostly in reasonable weather. We'll see what happens this year.

 

[Sea Change]

Contacts are a huge help if it's raining of there is much spray. No more peering through salt-encrusted glasses! I use monthlies and get on well enough with them.

 

[Thistle]

Contacts are a huge help if it's raining of there is much spray. No more peering through salt-encrusted glasses! I use monthlies and get on well enough with them.

+1

 

[Thistle]

I also have worn lenses for sailing for many years, and I would agree with their advantages. There is a downside, though: with the lenses in, for reading or looking at the chart I need to put on cheap reading glasses, or use a magnifying glass. Last year I experimented with going back to using glasses for sailing (varifocals - v. cheap 2nd pair under one of Specsaver's deals) and found it more convenient - but that was mostly in reasonable weather. We'll see what happens this year.

I agree that that is a potential problem. I too wear monthly lenses and have one eye corrected for distance and the other for reading. I find it an excellent compromise and I don't need glasses I'm told that it doesn't work for everyone but I don't know what the criteria for success are. It's certainly something worth asking your contact lens practitioner about.

 

[Sneds]

I to had one for distance and one for reading, wearing both at the same time but now wear just the distance one in my right eye and can read perfectly well as well as see distance.
Agree that seawater will dry them out and make them difficult to remove but use a supermarket own brand ( suitable for lenses) eye drops and you'll be fine.
Putting them in and out takes some practice but ask some fellow users for tips as they can often suit better than the opticians instructions.
Try them, we both love 'em

 

[chubby]

I did wear gas permeable contacts for years, an advantage for sailing is you can wear really good but non prescription sunglasses, like oaklies. The only downside was if you wanted to doze off watch and woke up with sticky eyes, I never likes sleeping in mine and a nuisance to take in/out underway. I have actually gone back to glasses: I need varifocals and seemed easier to get the prescription right on specs than lenses: now I have three pairs, indoor advanced varifocals for work and computers, outdoor photochromic glasses for general outdoors and precrition sunglasses for driving in very bright light!

 

[VicMallows]

There is a downside, though: with the lenses in, for reading or looking at the chart I need to put on cheap reading glasses, or use a magnifying glass.

It's worth remembering that (assuming you are short-sighted) you can also play it the other way around.......wear lenses which just enable you to see the instruments etc adequately; and then top up with glasses when you need good distant vision.

My base prescription is -6.5 diopter for distance, but I choose my contact lens strength at anything from -4.5 to -6.5 depending on what I am doing that day!

It is surely about time that someone invented a remotely-adjustable contact lens (with a little hand-held remote) ..... and then as the next development an auto-focusing one.......just like our eyes were when we were young!

 

[l'escargot]

I also have worn lenses for sailing for many years, and I would agree with their advantages. There is a downside, though: with the lenses in, for reading or looking at the chart I need to put on cheap reading glasses, or use a magnifying glass. Last year I experimented with going back to using glasses for sailing (varifocals - v. cheap 2nd pair under one of Specsaver's deals) and found it more convenient - but that was mostly in reasonable weather. We'll see what happens this year.

I went the same way several years ago after happily wearing extended wear lenses for about ten years and various other kinds before that going back to hard lenses in the 70's. It seemed to defeat the object of wearing contact lenses and then wearing glasses to correct them for close work. I did try varifocal contact lenses but didn't find the vision as good as varifocal glasses.

 

[VicMallows]

I would be nervous of hard lenses for any physical activity

I was always extremely nervous of my hard lenses (before soft even existed) ...... because of the consequence of loosing them at upwards of £100 even in the 70s/80s ! They even had a habit of sometimes just popping out when you blinked - something that has never happened with softs. I find little to choose between monthly and daily; just a cost/benefit equation.

 

[l'escargot]

I was always extremely nervous of my hard lenses (before soft even existed) ...... because of the consequence of loosing them at upwards of £100 even in the 70s/80s ! They even had a habit of sometimes just popping out when you blinked - something that has never happened with softs. I find little to choose between monthly and daily; just a cost/benefit equation.

I had a girlfriend back then who wore hard lenses. If one popped out at home she would get the Hoover out, then go through the Hoover bag and when she found it just gave it a rinse under the tap and put it back in...

 

[Twister_Ken]

With contacts you can also buy relatively cheap sunnies, rather than having prescription ones made up.

 

[jofb]

I have worn contacts for many years and have never had a problem with them, wearing them all day long including while sailing. I normally wear two-weekly soft lenses for distance vision but as the years roll on I now need glasses for close work like reading, chart work etc so have now started to wear varifocal daily disposables that work really well for sailing as I can then read charts and the plotter well without needing glasses.
I still prefer my usual ones when not sailing because the distance vision is just a bit clearer for driving and I find the varifocals can dry my eyes and make them feel a bit tired by the end of the day but while sailing it is wonderful not to need glasses, have never had a problem with spray - and you can always reach for the bins for greater clarity over a long distance! Would really recommend them.

 

[neilf39]

I have daily multivocal to wear when sailing or playing cricket. I have one eye under corrected so I can read at a reasonable distance and still focus at infinity. Not quite as good as full correction but means I can read the plotter from a distance I can still operate it. So much better than salty glasses.