rlr@pyuxn.UUCP (10/17/83)
I've been told that you can shower/wash your hair as long as you don't stand with your face pointing right up at the spray for prolonged periods of time. Though I've known people who have lost lenses this way, I myself have never lost a lens in the shower. But then, I'm *very* paranoid about my lenses (almost always carrying a lens case and saline bottle and always worrying if I forget them), and probably exercise extreme caution in the shower, which is not a bad idea, I guess. But, as far as swimming goes, I've been told that it's not a good idea for several reasons. First is, obviously, the potential for losing them, which I guess you could avoid if you kept your eyes closed underwater, etc., but I wouldn't take the chance myself. The other reason is that, because the lenses are so absorbent of the liquids around them, the chlorine found in pool water will be readily abosrbed by your lenses. (I guess the same goes for any impurities in lake or ocean water; even though ocean water is more like saline solution than lake or pool water, I wouldn't advise storing one's lenses in it :-) I was also told that goggles are no good at alleviating any of these potential problems, though I've never tried it myself. Does anyone know of any goggles specially designed for wearing lenses while swimming? Apparently these concepts apply to all soft lenses equally, extended wear or not. Rich Rosen pyuxn!rlr
tomm@tekecs.UUCP (Tom Milligan) (10/21/83)
---- I wear extended-wear contact lenses (Hydrocurve II) and have had no bad effects from wearing them in the shower or from swimming with them in. In the shower, I don't try and look up the shower nozzle, but I do try and open my eyes and let some water get to the lenses...I figure that it serves to keep them a little cleaner. When swimming I usually wear goggles...when I have been in situations where I didn't have my goggles with me, or to have them would be inconvenient (ie. falling off a sailboat) I have made it a practice to avoid opening my eyes underwater. I have noticed that after I go swimming, and some of the swimming hole/pool water gets to the lenses, I usually feel the need to clean the lenses within 3 or 4 days. Also, it appears that, because a saline environment is their natural home, the lenses change their shape when they absorb fresh water, and when they change their shape, they no longer ride on the front of the cornea. Hope this is helpful. Tom Milligan