Contact Lenses

FIFA2004

Hi guys,
Not really sure if this is the right place to be posting this but i was wondering if any of you could give me some advice.

basically im a complete begineer going on a surf trip at the weekend. my eye sight isnt great. Obviously wearing glasses is out of the question but is there any chance i would get away with wearing contact lenses while surfing. Has any-body had any experience doing this?

Would really appreciate any advice, thanks

stellarartois

I always wear my dailys, most of the time there grand. wouldn't wear monthlys though cause you might lose them.

spaceHopper

Don't need them my self but I know at least two people who wear dailys.

c - 13

Wear monthlies in the water myself and have never lost a pair. Just make sure you give them a good clean afterwards.

I dont know

I wear dailies all the time and have no bother with them.
However, I used to wear hard gas permeable lenses, had no bother with them for ages and then one day came off and hit the water face first and lost them both - £120 wasted.
If you wear soft lenses id say theres very little chance of them coming out.

Griff77

I also wear dailies when surfing and they're fine just close your eyes if you wipe out hard. Also take them out when you get off the water and wash the salt of your face and eyes. I find if I leave mine in my eyes get very gritty that night and pretty sore but if I took them out after the surf they're grand and I can put another pair in that night if I want.

FIFA2004

thanks for all the replies, really appreciate it... ive one less excuse for being awful now though!!

will3k

Interesting reading on longboard Ireland forum dangers of not washing contacts after surf

Basically for those of you not registered on this forum, a member off it nearly lost his sight after failing to clean contacts after a surf. He ended up with this little parasite :eek:

Psydeshow

oh man I always leave my contacts in till I get home! (I wear monthlies) was just about to post that its nothin to worry bout but, well, I'll not be doin that any more. had heard that could happen but just thought it was one of those things opticians tell young opticians to scare em at night.

Until today though I used to just wear my monthlies in the water all the time, put em in before i leave take em out when I get home or that night. I have a spare pair of glasses in the car anyway should anythin happen to my contacts, but they've not fallen out so far.

gumbynation

will3k wrote: »

Interesting reading on longboard Ireland forum dangers of not washing contacts after surf

Basically for those of you not registered on this forum, a member off it nearly lost his sight after failing to clean contacts after a surf. He ended up with this little parasite :eek:

+1
+1
+1
+1
+1
read that thread - NASTY!!!!
sounds like you should be wearing disposable ones and taking em out immediately and binning them...

yank_in_eire

will3k wrote: »

Interesting reading on longboard Ireland forum dangers of not washing contacts after surf

Basically for those of you not registered on this forum, a member off it nearly lost his sight after failing to clean contacts after a surf. He ended up with this little parasite :eek:

Acanthamoeba is found in soil and FRESH water. How did this person catch it in salt water? Any freshwater organism finding itself in saltwater should rapidly dehydrate and die (obviously excluding things like salmon and eels)

gumbynation

Rivermouths like say easkey left?
Anywhere where there is a Stormwater outlet to sea?
I know of one quality wave in the north west which has a 300mm diameter foul sewer discharging right where you paddle out. Nasty.

I think he said he caught it diving. Not sure if it was in a lake or in the ocean, you'd have to ask him.

Psydeshow

Can't get into the original thread (tried to join LI a while back but never got a reply) but if its a freshwater micro-organism then the slightest change in water salinity should kill it, even brackish water (freshwater meeting saltwater) would have this effect I'd expect. Essentially the saltwater would draw the fluids out of it and kill it.Those animals adapted to such conditions tend to have quite specialised ways of dealing with it (ion exchange at the gills is one I remember but it's been a while since I studied this stuff).

Havin said all that I'm not a microbiologist and I don't know what organism we're talkin about. I'd take the lesson from this of clean your monthlies in solution after sufing just to be sure.

Fresh Cod

This is it:

http://wiki.medpedia.com/Acanthamoeba_Infection

and it can be found in the sea.

"Acanthamoeba species have been found in soil; fresh, brackish, and sea water; sewage; swimming pools; contact lens equipment; medicinal pools; dental treatment units; dialysis machines; heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems; mammalian cell cultures; vegetables; human nostrils and throats; and human and animal brain, skin, and lung tissues"

Use dailys, take them out after you surf and bin them, you should be fine, nothing is 100% though, there is always a small risk.