do you wear contact lenses when you swim

[Simonandrod]

I swim most days and have done for years. I'm blind as a bat without contact lenses so I've always worn them when I swim and never gave it a second thought.
But the other day I went to the optician and they put the fear of god into me about this habit, saying I could end up blind.
However, surely most people with contacts don't faff about taking them out and putting them back in when they go swimming.
Just wondering how unreasonable it would be to ignore him and carry on.

I wouldn't even shower with them in let alone swim

I know someone who got the eye parasite things from wearing contacts in the shower. She basically had to live in the dark, regularly putting stuff that was basically weak bleach in her eyes to kill them, not knowing if her sight would be ok.

A pair of prescription goggles is a better bet.

I can't get mine in unless my fingers are bone dry. Otherwise the bowl shape doesn't hold and they bend back over my finger, with the wet surface of the finger competing with the wet surface of the eye to attract the lens. 🤷‍♂️

Oh I don't shower in mine, because I don't wear goggles in the shower. I don't get water in my eyes when swimming.

Don’t you have spare glasses in case you can’t wear your contacts for any reason? In which case can’t you leave your glasses poolside with your towel?

I need prescription goggles - what is a likely price for them? I used to swim in mine but read a horror article!

Another one here too short sighted to get from cubicle to pool without sight correction. I definitely wouldn't want to try leaving glasses poolside, lest they got trodden on or kicked out of place (could leave them in a case, I suppose, but they wouldn't have to get far displaced for me to lose them). Towels get hung up!

I also wear dailies and dispose of them after swimming. My optician is accepting. I don't see, actually, how doing this can be much more dangerous than swimming with bare eyes. What's the mechanism supposed to be? I can see that if you carry on using the same lenses after swimming there's the possibility the lens is providing an environment for something to breed or stay in, but if you don't, how are the lenses supposed to do any harm?

Oh god- I always have but won't anymore after reading this! I had no idea 🙈 might need to save up for some prescription goggles

Same here.

Yes, I’ve had this as well. I tell them I don’t wear them as I can’t be bothered to deal with the lecture. But I carry on as normal. I’m a ‘head out of the water’ swimmer so it’s not a problem for me in any case!

If I swum properly, I’d get goggles.

You’re also not supposed to wear them while showering.

-6.5 prescription and wear daily disposables. I'd never swim in them or even just be in the pool watching the kids. Sight is so precious, why take the risk? I just put my glasses by the side of the pool next to my water bottle. I have prescription goggles too but rarely wear them.

Another one here too short sighted to get from cubicle to pool without sight correction. I definitely wouldn't want to try leaving glasses poolside, lest they got trodden on or kicked out of place (could leave them in a case, I suppose, but they wouldn't have to get far displaced for me to lose them). Towels get hung up! Yes, in a case, obviously! You can get cases with cords so they can be hung on the same hook that you hang your towels on.

I used to wear RGPs and would take them out to put on prescription goggles because I was afraid of losing them in the water, but then the optician read me the riot act about rinsing with (boiled) water (another optician had told me it was OK!) so now I take them out because of infections as well.
Prescription goggles are not that much - you buy them by the lens - which is good if you are like me and have v different prescriptions in both.

I spent over 20 years swimming and showering in lenses. Full on swimming, plenty of splashes to the face and I'd often splash my face with water with eyes open at the sink too. I also wore night and day lenses for years whilst doing this - the ones that stay in your eye for 30 days, including sleeping in them.

Never heard a word about water until ds1 got contacts 2 years ago.

I've carried on as normal, tbph it's such a tiny, tiny risk (reduced further by the fact that I now wear daily lenses) that I'm happy to accept it.

Without wishing to jinx myself, I've been wearing lenses for 34 years, the last 25 or so I've worn the extended wear ones. I've also lived in a couple of different overseas countries where hygeine isn't the same as the UK. I've swum in various seas / oceans and probably over a 100 different pools and shower pretty much every day, all with my lenses in. I've never had so much as a stye.

I have severe toxiplasmosis scarring, but that was from before I started wearing lenses but other than that, apparently I have great eyes... the only thing about me that is great! I'll probably wake up with red eyes tomorrow and that will serve me right! 😉

Yes of course. I can barely see without them, and glasses would be a bigger risk as the glass could smash, let alone them sliding down my noise and being useless in the humidity.

I don't get water in my eyes, go underwater etc., but I'm sure the odd drop has got in there over the years and I've never had an issue.

I swim 3-5 times a week, mix of pool, sea, rivers and lakes. Wear 2 weekly contact lenses and googles, no issues. Just wash your hands before touching your eyes when you get out,

Apparently sea water is safe as the bacteria can't live in salt water. So sea swimmers, crack on 😁

Yes I do. But I don't understand how it's a issue. My goggles never ever leak. I use anti fog spray so that I don't need to lick the inside or rinse them out. I can't bear water in my eyes including in the shower.

I put my contact in at 5am and take them out at 9pm. Every single day.

Also I go through about 3 pairs of goggles a year when the straps break or the seal weakens. Who can be faffed buying new prescription goggles each time?

I never swim in mine. I wear my glasses right to the poolside, then leave them in a case with my towel and flip flops. I can't see much once I'm in the water, but strangely, I don't actually mind that.

This is one of the reasons I hardly ever go swimming - I hate not being able to see properly. I wouldn’t risk wearing contacts though, it’s just not worth the risk for me.

Just to say for people now looking for prescription goggles - I have the 30 pound Speedo ones, they've been great for me even if they obviously don't correct as well as my real prescription (and only go to -8) and yes I do wear them from the changing room - no one's bothered!

basic prescription goggles (so -2 or -5 etc) are around £20 on Amazon (obviously not bespoke but work for all of us)

because yes I am another who had a friend who has the amoeba and she ended up losing her eye, she was fastidious as well but one accidental shower and that was it

it nearly broke her with the pain so there is no way I would risk it having seen it

DH's granddaughter showered in hers. Ended up with acanthamoeba infection. Agonisingly painful, a year off work and now blind in one eye.

I wear contacts every day but would never wear them swimming. For one thing, they would pop out as soon as water touched them so no point.