Diving with contacts

[taimen]

Once I mentioned I dive, my optometrist immediately insisted I switch to dailies during dive trips. There is a risk if you get fresh or saltwater in your eye you develop an infection from bacteria or fungus sticking to the contact. By throwing away the contact at the end of the day you drastically reduce the risk. She has seen this occur and was so insistent that she offered to give me trial dailies to wear.

It is more like a rule that if contact lenses must be used while swimming/diving/even showering, disposable dailies should be used and discarded as soon as convenient after the exposure. Infections are rare, but exposure to water and overnight use of contacts are predisposing factors.
I have a very good prescription mask (Seavision). That said, I usually choose to dive with daily contacts. I have done mask removal drills and also had my mask dislodged during a cave drill while wearing contacts without any problems. I like dailies. I have also 30-day contacts, but don't find them better in any way except being less expensive to use.

 

[Dark Wolf]

I wore extended wear contacts for nearly 30 years, and dove with them for several. Never had problems until half way through last year. Even with a new pair, they would féel "gritty" after a few hours, and vision would blur. Switched to daily lenses. Mono vision (since i am getting older, and needed bifocals). Left eye at low power (-2.25) for up close, right eye at near full power (-4.25) for distance. Fearsome headache for about a week, but would not switch back after adjusting to it. Great vision, and no need for cheaters of any kind.

And cheaper, to boot!

DW

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

I am diving 30 day Air Optix Night& Day Aqua

Soft contacts are fine for diving. +1 @Storker about the dryness and @taimen on risk for infection. I'd recommend re-wetting drops vs sterile saline post-dive, and discarding the contacts if your eyes are exposed to water - dailies would of course lend themselves better to that. I always carry a spare pair when traveling. If you plan on doing mask removal drills, just leave the contacts out. FWIW I dove for the Navy for 20 years with soft contacts and never had an issue.

Best regards,
DDM

 

[caruso]

Mono vision (since i am getting older, and needed bifocals). Left eye at low power (-2.25) for up close, right eye at near full power (-4.25) for distance. Fearsome headache for about a week

Too late now but the headache could have been avoided by having your eye doctor give you a little bit less on the reading prescription for the first trial fitting and increase it in one or 2 steps over a 2 week period. Doing it this way makes it easier to adjust for the disparity between the two eyes and the sudden loss of binocularity and and added benefit is that by working up to the final reading rx gradually it might not be necessary to make the final reading rx quite as strong. In other words you might be wearing a reading contact lens that is a bit stronger than necessary. Not that there's anything wrong with that but the stronger the reading rx, the less binocularity and the more distance blur especially in low light conditions such as night driving.

It is more like a rule that if contact lenses must be used while swimming/diving/even showering, disposable dailies should be used and discarded as soon as convenient after the exposure.

Exposure to water in a shower is not a significant factor in contact lens infections.

 

[In2theabyss]

I wear Optix Monthly contacts on every dive....i rewet them with drops once settled in and that usually removes any discomfort

 

[Fyffer]

Daily Is the only way to go. I wear them for my diving only. Ans glasses rest of the time.

 

[caruso]

Daily Is the only way to go

Well no, actually it isn't. There are 2 week and monthly replacement options as well.

 

[Lorenzoid]

. . .
Exposure to water in a shower is not a significant factor in contact lens infections.

You seem to have some professional knowledge (optometrist/ophthalmologist?), but I suppose it's worth noting to readers of this thread that the likelihood is greater than zero, i.e., rare but a risk worth considering. I recall having read an article about a woman in the UK who apparently simply did not completely dry her hands between washing them and handling her contacts, and found this link to the article: I was blinded by my contact lens

. . . She was told she had Acanthamoeba Keratitis (AK), a rare but serious eye infection caused by a micro-organism that's common in tap water, sea water and swimming pools.
. . .
Why do lenses increase the risk of AK?

• Contact lens wear causes minor corneal abrasions, which is the key initial step for Acanthamoeba infection
• Contact lenses serve as a vehicle for the harbouring, transmission and delivery of microorganisms to the eye - Acanthamoeba has a high affinity for contact lens surfaces

 

[Fyffer]

Well no, actually it isn't. There are 2 week and monthly replacement options as well.

Well If u care about your eye health. Best to always throw away contacts after use of diving incase any salt water get behind your contact. But hey u only get one set of eyes so why not take the chance.

 

[caruso]

Well If u care about your eye health. Best to always throw away contacts after use of diving incase any salt water get behind your contact. But hey u only get one set of eyes so why not take the chance.

There's no question that the more frequently contact lenses are replaced the less risk of infection and other adverse changes such as corneal edema and neovascularization, both of which can result in adverse permanent changes to the cornea and cause complications in later years if not immediately. That much being said, not all contact lens wearers can wear daily contact lenses, reasons being that they are not available in as many parameters including but not limited to, base curve and degree of astigmatism (axis and amount). So my point was that there are other "ways to go" when it comes to contact lenses besides dailies. They also tend to cost more, along the lines of a couple of hundred dollars per year even after generous manufacturers rebates currently available as these lenses are heavily promoted by all the major contact lens companies.