Question for long time contact lens wearers

[TellerTuesday]

I've been pondering this for a few weeks but really interested on hearing from others.

I have worn contact lenses for around 20 years. Started with monthly ones and have had daily disposables for the last 10 years plus.

DD has just started using them. When she was having the 'training sessions' etc she was told how important it is not to swim in them, to take them out before washing her face etc, I have honestly never been told this.

When I first started wearing them, I am convinced that they were marketed as more convenient than glasses because you could swim in them and so on, even seem to remember an advert on the tv for lenses with a swimmer.

I've had yearly contact lens checks at the opticians and nobody has ever told me that I shouldn't be getting my face wet with them in. The lady in specsavers looked aghast when I said this. I put mine in on a morning and keep them in until late evening, swim with them in (although I don't actually go underwater) but now I'm worried I need to stop and it would take some major adjusting to.

Just wondered if any other long time wearers had totally missed this, did the guidance change at some point and I just wasn't aware? A quick google strongly advises against getting the face wet when wearing them but it's something I'd never thought about as I'd been doing it for years.

@spikeandbuffy24 the advice is about not buying random brands online and wearing them unsupervised. Tell your optician that this is what you want to try and ask if he will continue to check your eye health if you get them.

I’ve been wearing them for 25 years too. I don’t swim often but I have worn them in the ocean loads and shower with them in almost every day as I shower after the gym. I wear daily disposables though so less chance of an infection.
The only thing I’ve been told is that because I wear them so much I have a blood vessel or something which is because of lack of oxygen. But he said there was nothing that could be done and I should just try to have at least 2-3 hours a day of being awake without them in, plus I have the thinnest ones they do, to let through more oxygen.
I hate glasses! I have a small nose and they always slip off and if they’re tight enough to stay on I get a headache!

I too have been wearing for 30 years and this is the first time I have heard of it!
I do go swimming a lot so it’s quite a concern.
However I can’t help wondering as a PP has highlighted if there isn’t increased risk with regularly changing them/putting them in an out in terms of the bacteria on your fingers even if washed well (in tap water…) after swimming or showering.
this is the most recent uk based study - which estimates up to 60 percent of cases could be prevented by switching to daily disposables. There was another study which showed it’s more common in the south than the north and speculated this was because of the change in water - hard/aoft.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35952937/

Worn GPs for nearly 40 years, never been told any of this. I was also a quick lick to wet them if I was out and got grit in my eye, and not alone in doing it.

I’ve been told never to swim in them!

I've worn lenses for 40 years and swum and dived and done triathlons in the sea with them in. I've also slept with them in, put them in tap water overnight (not recommended, I was young and stupid). I've taken them out with unwashed hands then put them back in without a mirror. My eyes are totally healthy.

My normal routine is daily disposables and I've always worn Acuvue moving to Acuvue moist when they came out.

Yikes Been wearing contacts for 24 years, since I was 13. I have swam and showered in them literally thousands of times!! I actually wasn't aware you weren't supposed to!!

But with a -7.0 prescription - I would have to swim in my glasses?!?

I have had "fine needle diathermy" to cauterise blood vessels that are creeping across my corneas. I was awake during the procedure & local anaesthetic was given. Afterwards my eye was blood red for a week......would have looked great on Halloween 😀. Had a patch over the eye for a week & couldn't put a contact lens in for 2 weeks.

I'm due for it to be done on my either eye but I'm holding off for now as my eyes are more settled than they have been for the past 3 years.

Oh god @Biggaybear that sounds traumatic! Did it hurt? How did you not flinch away?
apparently my blood vessel isn’t too bad so they haven’t mentioned any treatment so far and now I’m scared to ask!

On an operating table & a gadget is wedged into your eye to keep your eye open. Weird to see a fine needle approaching your eye & not feel anything. Need lots of local anaesthetic and at first they needed to stop as there wasn't enough if it & I could feel pain.

I'm not adverse to having my other eye done but it's more the recovery time. It would mean 2-3 weeks off work as I spend all day either at my computer or out seeing clients. As I said before, I cant wear glasses so it's either contact lenses or nothing.....and I cant work without my lenses in.

@Biggaybear this has encouraged me to maybe take mine out a bit more in the evening!

We don't recommend EW lenses at all any more - due to the shower issue and generally the increased risk of a corneal infection. When you sleep in lenses, the reduced blink rate means that you don't flush the debris from under your lenses as efficiently - this allows attachments onto the lens, which bacteria which are in the eye naturally can attach onto.

The annual incidence of any kind of keratitis is about 1% for daily disposable lens wearers who look after their lenses correctly and between 3.5-6.5% for extended wear.
The infection which you get from tap water is much rarer than this, but much more potentially devastating for the eye. It's in tap water, rivers and streams, but can't survive in salt water.

Worn mine for 30 years and have always known to not get my face wet when wearing them.

Was initially told to do make-up with them in but I got so I couldn't see to do the make-up, optician said it's fine to put lenses in after.

Is that 1% of daily disposable wearers get keratitis OR 1% of people who get keratitis wear daily disposable lenses?

Every year 1% of people wearing daily disposable wearers get a corneal infection (keratitis).
Remember though this includes people who swim in their lenses, swap to a different brand without getting the fit checked, lick their lenses and/or occasionally re-use them.
It also includes the people that don't take out their lenses when they get a red eye, as they don't have a decent pair of glasses and seek help.

Basically if you wear lenses:
Never get them near tap/pool water
If they hurt or your eye goes red take them out. If it happens again, call your optician.
Never re-use dailies
Always have an up to date pair of glasses and wear them.
Never change between brands or even modalities - they fit differently.
Do not re-use solution and don't get it from Temu (that was last clinic issue)

What percentage of people wearing glasses get this infection? It’s impossible to judge risk without background information.

Do not re-use solution and don't get it from Temu (that was last clinic issue)

Jesus. Who the hell would buy something to put in your eyes from bloody Temu 😯