Contact lenses- how do you cope in water

[PaulM]

Im new to surfing and wear contact lenses- soft ones. Can use them for swimming in the pool but how do those of you that use them for surfing ensure they stay in when in waves and how have you found the salt water getting into your eyes or behind lenses ? Dont really wanna surf without em cos sight not great without them and feel as though lacking quite an impotant sense when in the water! ta P

[surf patrol]

Hi PaulM, welcome to Surfing Waves.

A quick search and I found these posts that we have had on the subject. There should be some useful info here.
Surfing with Contacts
Surfing for the visually impared
what to do about poor eyesight?
Short sighted Surfers
i want to be able to see to surf!

Make sure that you keep your eyes closed while duck diving and you should not have a problem. Salt buildup is not a factor.

[Brian]

hey, i surf with my contacts...no problem..i open my eyes occasionally but if ur looking straight ahead and the waters rushing at ur face, it usually just pushes the lenses onto your eyes so your all good...but yeah in general just close your eyes when u duck dive!

[deadite]

Simple solution. Close your eyes. I don't open my eyes underwater, if I have to, say if I eat it, I'll open them quickly but not wide open. Salt water doesn't tend to bother me. You could bring and extra thing of saline or re-wetting drops and use that when you get out.

[duhkine]

I don't wear contacts in the water because I have hard ones. I just squint constantly and make bad first impressions. Its hard to see the waves but I get used to it.

[Hapabalapx]

I wear contacts and I heard that there are some kind of eye drops that are supposed to make contacts conformably stick to your eye. But this is just what I heard, although I think its worth looking up.

[Guest]

If you're afraid of losing your lenses next time you go to your Optomertrist for your checkup ask them to explain how contacts (both hard & soft) actually work. Contacts rely on a microscopic layer of eye moisture (don't know what it's actually called but it's like saline solution)to be a viscous lubricant and hold the lens on by suction. The thin lens is suckered on to the wet slippery surface of your eye. The lenses are designed to and are supposed to move very slightly each time you blink, this is what keeps under the lens clean and re-moisturise your eye.
Adding eye drops does not work, your eye washes off the foreign liquid from your cornea & outer lens surface the very next time you blink...

This is why you go to an optomertrist to have them fitted properly to start with, the physical fit of the lens is as important as the actual prescription. This is why also it's quite hard to lose a lens surfing, you literally have to fully open your eye underwater or into an oncoming blast of white-water to get them to come off. I have written several posts on what sort of lenses I use (I've tried em all in the last 15 years) they are detailed on the above links highlighted by surf patrol

Brent