Contact Lenses in rugby matches

zokrez

The sight of seeing White having to put back in a contact lense reminded me of playing in a cup match a number of years ago where on engaging in the scrum my lense popped out and I couldn't find it and certainly didn't have a spare pair ! That was after 6 minutes and I had to spend the rest of the match playing with one lense. I played dreadfully. I got laser surgery shortly afterwards and had to give up rugby for a wee while while my recuperation took place. Surely a prop in this day and age especially playing for the Lions, would get his eyes lasered as he will surely be targeted in any future mtaches ? ANyone got an opinion ?

RuggieBear

not everyone is suitable for laser treatment. Besides going for the eyes is a big no no in rugby and imo any player found going for the eyes should be banned for life....probably means there wouldn't be many argentinian props around

I played junior cup rugby without contacts and used to get hurt all the time as i couldn't quite judge distances right...kept getting knocked out in the middle of rucks :eek: Got them for the first time when i was 16 and my rugby improved significantly....however they were constantly being dislodged.

Got my eyes lasered when i was 22...best thing i've ever done. BTW, I was told i could play rugby 2 weeks later....so altho i wasn't playing at the time i would n't have missed much.....

luckat

I've heard that laser often reverts a few years later, and your eyes are twice as bad. Is this an urban legend?

RuggieBear

well i had it done in 2000 and my eyes are still perfect now...but your eyes will deteriorate with old age like the average punter...so i fully expect to need glasses/contacts/reading glasses in my late 30's-40s

zokrez

ditto ruggie, my rugby improved with lenses and even moreso (still cr~p though) with laser surgery. It is very easy to dislodge a lense without gouging. Ruck or mauls or especially scrums for props, jersey rubbed to side of eye could make lense pop out and then again gouging is a possibity. My point though was surely a professional rugby player should thick of getting opo done, if eligible, to prevent hassle of losing a lense in a match and possible irritation.

Persoanlly, getting eyes lasered was best thing I ever did ~ now for tummy tuck or stapling !!

qwertyup

Just to reiterate, it doesn't take gouging to dislodge a contact. I rarely get through a match without losing at least one contact, generally from catching blows to the face in rooks etc.

Daily disposables are the way to go if you need to play with contacts. I originally had hard permanent lenses (as they didn't produce soft lenses in a strong enough prescription at the time), and they were a real bitch to play in. Looking for one was a right royal pain in the ass too.

Still, being able to actually see where the ball had gone (even which side had it!) made rugby just a tad easier/more sensible.

zokrez

Yeah I had them all, hard, soft, gas permeable, monthly and dailies ~ don't miss them at all !

Trojan

Use daily disposables too, great for it. I find the worst thing is not impacts but specs of dirt getting thrown up from boots - it forces your eye to blink to remove the dirt & ends up knocking out the lens. I don't have a perfectly fitting left lens, so it comes out more often leaving me half-blind.