Contact lenses & kayaking

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Henry Gresham
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Contact lenses & kayaking

Post by Henry Gresham » Sat Aug 23, 2014 12:25 pm

This is an issue I've discussed with some members, but never got definitive information. Therefore, I've done a bunch of research, including with my eye care provider and another eye doc. Long and short of this is that contacts are OK when kayaking (or other water activities), BUT with some serious precautions. First, there are "bugs" in lake and river water than can cause big eye infections. So here's what I've decided. First, my normal contacts are the 2 week continuous wear type, but I usually take them out at night and disinfect. But now I'm also adding a supply of one time daily wear disposable which I'll discard after any kayaking activity. Also, as soon as possible after a day on the water, flush eyes with sterile saline, eye drops or similar. As for possibly losing a contact, I always have stashed in the 'yak a backup pair of eye glasses. I don't plan on replacing a washed out contact on the river, due to the lack of sanitation.

That's my strategy. Just wondering what others do. I know from blog searches that a lot of kayakers don't give it a thought or care, but that seems risky to me. Just wondering.

:confused:

BEubanks
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Re: Contact lenses & kayaking

Post by BEubanks » Sun Aug 24, 2014 8:18 am

Contacts since 1974. Hard, gas perm, now soft. Scuba, waterskiing, now kayaking. Never lost one while doing these activities. No issues with infection but always take out at night. Best to have a spare in first aid kit but I rarely do. Note to self!

Flipit
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Re: Contact lenses & kayaking

Post by Flipit » Sun Aug 24, 2014 9:11 am

10 years of WW kayaking with gas perm lenses. I've lost one. No eye problems whatsoever- and I paddle the infamous Dallas Wave with all it's ecoli bio-soup hype. :wht:

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Lupe
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Re: Contact lenses & kayaking

Post by Lupe » Sun Aug 24, 2014 10:11 am

I have really poor vision (near sighted, -10 range) plus astigmatism, plus just really hard to fit shaped eyeballs, so I think I probably have to futz with my contacts more than most. Due to the astigmatism, if my contacts rotate on my eye out of place, I can end up with pretty blurry vision, and my contacts do tend to move around a bit either from splashes to the face or from water streaming down my face after rolling.

One thing I've learned (actually read this on boatertalk and then confirmed with my eye doc) is that it's the salinity that gives the contact the cushion to move around. For me, having contacts moving around in the middle of a busy rapid where I really would like to have good vision is problematic. So the trick is that if you go ahead and splash a bunch of water in your eyes before any serious boogie water, you can lower that salinity and get the contacts "locked" onto your eyes. Anyone who has ever showered with their contacts and then tried to take them out right afterwards might be familiar with this phenomenon.

Of course, as Henry pointed out, no eye care professional can endorse splashing potentially contaminated water into your eyes, but the truth is that water is going to get into my eyes at some point if it's a rowdy whitewater run, and I would rather see all the way through the rapid. It might be that for most people who have a naturally good fit of their lenses don't even need to worry about this.

I disinfect my contacts every night with Clear Care (the kind that has hydrogen peroxide and you put the contacts into the little vial). This is a cleaning regiment highly recommended to me by my ophthalmologist, and kayaking with my lenses over the past 8 years I've never had any infections (in my eyes, at least!) [Although note that if you do this regiment for example while backpacking...the chemical reaction doesn't take place if it's below a certain temperature (perhaps freezing, not sure) and then you end up putting hydrogen peroxide into your eyes in the morning! Don't let this happen to you! Very unpleasant!!!]

Although I've never lost a lens, I always have a very small bottle of saline solution and a carrying case in my first aid kit, and carry a pair of back up glasses. Since I would be nearly blind without my lenses, it's definitely a safety issue! I'm so blind I seriously couldn't even walk off a river let alone paddle down a river without vision correction!

For the record, although I had both contacts and glasses when I started kayaking, I was mostly doing glasses on the river at first. However, my first run down Richland Creek was also the LAST time I ever wore glasses on the river: I could not keep the glasses from fogging and was running half the rapids blind and so after that I decided contacts were the better (safer!) way to go!!!

Cheers!
I've heard that into every life a little of it must fall,
but you'll never catch me complaining about too much of that southern rain.
~ Michael Timmins, Cowboy Junkies

Henry Gresham
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Re: Contact lenses & kayaking

Post by Henry Gresham » Sun Aug 24, 2014 1:11 pm

I appreciate the feedback. Learned a couple things.

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Tim Eubanks
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Re: Contact lenses & kayaking

Post by Tim Eubanks » Sun Aug 24, 2014 1:35 pm

Also been paddling with gas perm, 2 week lenses for a long time. Echo Lupe's suggestion to splash water before entering a rapid. Really helps. Now I know why. thanks!
Never lost one but do need to keep an extra set in my kit. Thanks, Bro.

ShayA
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Re: Contact lenses & kayaking

Post by ShayA » Sun Aug 24, 2014 10:37 pm

Never really had a problem for down river stuff but when I would be playboating I lost a contact not because of getting splashed in the eye but from the unconscious act of wiping splashed water from my eyes. I wore soft disposable contacts. It almost happened again another time and the contact moved out of place for a few seconds. My whole life I hated wearing contacts in water sports so a year ago I got Lasik surgery. No more contacts and I can see underwater now. Problem solved.
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Re: Contact lenses & kayaking

Post by paddledog » Sat Mar 12, 2016 3:07 am

Think about stashing an old spare pair of glasses in a friends boat if it is going to be a long or difficult trip.
Ya just never know.
Fighting for peace........
Isn't that like screaming for quiet?

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Mutt
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Re: Contact lenses & kayaking

Post by Mutt » Tue Mar 15, 2016 9:21 pm

I lost a contact due to current once. My fault. I dove in to retrieve some river booty off the bottom of the river. I opened my eyes to see to grab my prize and the current swept the contact right out. I paddled the rest of the day one eyed. :wht:

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