Contact lenses + river water BAD!!! Any ideas?

[kclowe]

I wear contacts and they are driving me crazy when I paddle. Most of the problems occur after a roll or a wave hits me in the face. Goggles suck and sunglasses don't keep the water out. Anybody find a solution for this? I am tired of not being able to see!

[Bryan Houle]

i talked to my eye doctor and he recommended "Focus night and days". they seem to stick to my eyeball much better and i've had way less of a problem since.

[Id725]

I wear contacts, too, but not when I paddle.
I think it is a good practice to have your eyes open when you're under water - it's better for your roll. And you can't have your eyes open under water with contacts.
Do what I did - break down and buy some prescription glasses. Good ones, with shatterproof lenses and tough frames. The right store will insure them, too - If if smash mine while I'm paddling, the store will replace em free.
And I haven't had any problems - they don't fog up on me, I don't have a problem with vision getting blurred from water on the lenses, and I've never been accused of looking like a dork on the water either. You can put your contacts back in at the takeout and look studly, but you're better off with glasses while you're boating, IMHO.

[Geezer]

I agree with Focus Night and Day from Ciba Vision. I've been wearing them for 3 seasons now and they stick to the eyeball like glue. I can even open my eyes underwater if necessary to see those rocks coming at me. I can mostly clear my vision after taking a big wave after one or two blinks. They are great.

Not spancered by Ciba Vision

[KSC]

I can't speak to brands, but I wear contacts & always wear the wrap around sunglasses that I use for cycling. They have good eye coverage & you can switch lens based on the lighting. I keep my eyes open going through waves and holes and never have problems. I never liked the idea of wearing prescription glasses because you have no backup if they: fog, break, get lost and you tend to lose some precision in the optics. I learned to roll closing my eyes underwater from day one so I don't know if having them open really helps or not - seems like if you're lucky you'll be seeing the deck of your boat, and if you're unlikely you'll see a big swirly bubbly mess.

[Paul]

Originally Posted by Id725

I think it is a good practice to have your eyes open when you're under water - it's better for your roll.

Interesting. I've never kept my eyes open. But I taught a friend to roll years ago in a pool. I saw him a few years later and he mentioned that he had some problems with his combat roll, but that it finally improved once he stopped opening his eyes under water. It seems that he was a bit freaked out by what he saw whizzing by his head, which made it difficult to concentrate on the roll. When I was teaching him, I never suggested that he open his eyes, and he never told me he was. He just assumed that he should, while the thought never occurred to me.

Back on the topic at hand: A friend of mine wears disposable contacts. They're fairly inexpensive, so losing them isn't much of a problem.

[ringer]

I use the disposable contacts (generic kind, but similar to Acuvue) and haven't had any problems with sights except after paddling for a while (2+ hours), my contacts start sticking to the eyes due to lack of oxygen and then just a little bit of eye drops in both eyes helps--I tend to keep a little bottle of drops in my PFD for that reason...I find that sunglasses help a bit too, but I've lost my paddling glasses, so need to get new ones...

[matts]

LASIK. best thing i ever did.

[Seadog]

i definitely wouldn't recommend wearing prescription glasses while paddling, before you know it they'll be so dirty you won't be able to see much anyway. that's what always happened to me anyway, plus it sucked when i hit my face on a rock and smashed the glasses.

[Mountain]

yep, its all about the lasik
MM