Can I please alert you all to the dangers of swimming with contact lenses in.

[chipmonkey]

this lady has lost the sight in one eye after swimming with her contact lenses in.
Acanthamoeba is found in tap water/pool water/shower water and is not killed by chlorine. It's a rare infection but very painful and sight-threatening.
I warn all my contact lens patients about this but I know some are still very blase about it.
So best not to rinse lenses with tap water, swim or shower with them in.

I have worn contact lenses for 20 years and I didn't know about not swimming in them - how can I have missed this, I am sure the optician has never talked about it? I am lost without them or my glasses so I suppose I need to get some dailies

Leonie, I think the thinking is that if you must swim with contacts in, then dailies are the best option but they're not risk-free either. And I think the chances are that if you shower with them, you probably won't get much water in your eyes but it doesn't take much water, acanthamoebae are tiny!

Cym, if you did swim in them, it would be advisable to throw them out as soon as you get out of the pool, but even that's not risk free.

sununu, to be fair, I think the first time you get contact lenses, you are usually warned about this but at that point, you are usually so concerned about how to put the things in and out that you forget the other advice! I think we as optometrists often assume long-term contact lenses wearers are aware of the risks when really we should remind you regularly!

I was in denial about this but have heard it's not good more and more.

What about if I'm just standing in the pool during my toddler's swimming lesson?

dd started wearing contacts last week. We were told not to swim or shower wearing them. Daily disposables,

Also, tap water seems to make them split in half... As I found out and now have another scar in my eye (first was from keeping a daily in overnight once and a second from a scratch from a lens that broke).

I first wore contact lenses 35 years ago, and even then the advice was not to swim in them. I am very short sighted so I understand how vulnerable you feel without glasses/contact lenses.

Isn't it just common sense not to swim in contacts anyway?

natural, in theory if you got splashed in the eye with water, that would put you at risk.
Thank God, there has never been a case in the practice I work in and I doubt if all my patients are totally compliant on this issue! But because it's so devastating the risks are really not worth taking.

I wear monthly all day and all night lenses, so I sleep with mine in. I never take them out for showers as I only remove them once a month when I change for the new pair.

No one has ever mentioned this to me at all?!

I do swim with them in though I worry about losing one so usually wear goggles, but not if I am with the kids, then I just potter in the toddler pool with them in.

You're not talking about rigid gas permeable though are you? My optician uncle had always told me that if you'd dwash your face in the water it's ok for cleaning rigid lenses

I wear goggles when I go swimming and am same as lovethesea monthly day/night.

I didnt know about removing them for a shower though.

the reason I wear goggles is because optician told me that chlorine 'eats' the contact lens from outside in toward eye so that freaked me out.

I swam with mine when i was in my 20s, monthly disposable, ended up with an ulcer eating into my cornea. Drops every hour, day and night for 4 nights, and daily hospital checks, then drop every few hours during the day. Left Scarring but not in my line of sight.

Funnily enough, I got exactly the same thing in my 30s , twice, daily disposibles , perfect hygiene following all the rules .

sorry to be thick, but why aren't our eyes always at risk from tap water then, lenses or not?
I must confess I do use tap water to rinse cleaning solution off lenses, then add wetting solution (well actually its an allin one). A young man at the opticians did caution me against it but when I asked him if cooled boiled water was OK and he didn't know, I dismissed it as scare mongering!
OK I'm scared now but need more details!

I've always thought we are more vulnerable because the lense can hold the bacteria in our eye... Dunno tho.

Showering in them is my favourite thing though.

I always swim with my contact lenses in... Can't see otherwise. I've been wearing lenses for 21 years. . Gosh! How has no one (no optician) ever mentioned this to me?

I do need to get lasered!

I just about get myself into the shower, there is no way I can take them out every morning, get in, put them back in. Would totally ruin the whole point of monthly lenses. I just have saline for first thing in the morning when my eyes are a bit dry but no other solutions anyway.

I don't think water gets in my eyes anyway in the shower ... will observe tomorrow.

arthurshappey me too re laser surgery but I am bloody terrified and all the scare stories just make me more worried.

I have the monthly day and night ones as well and even after everything that has happened I still wear them in the shower and swimming as I wouldn't be able to see a thing. My Opticians actually has to order my lenses in.

I'm another contact lens swimmer not that I go very often I also nap in them. Optician has never mentioned the swimming thing but did say at my last appt that I had a scar from an ulcer (that I didn't even know I had) so I wonder whether this light be connected.

Slightly off topic but can anyone recommend swimming goggles, short sighted astigmatic and ideally ones which don't let water in either! Will tell dh to scratch his plan for disposible lenses.

How can people see in shower /pool then? And what about people that have to use a peroxide solution? Means its just not possible to take out and quickly put back in....

Am a but worried about this now! OP, any advice?

Light Haha, I went blind once in the shower with my lenses in, I assume they must have fogged up or something.

I can't comment on the swimming/showering but you must never use tap water in lens or case cleaning routine. Why would you mess with the health of your eyes? Especially if you've been told not to