Swimming in the deep blue or the pool is a way to exercise or relieve tension in your muscles. Almost every part of your body is in action here to ensure you keep moving, stay afloat and not drown. It is absolutely fun until it isn’t.

If you have some eye issues and the eye care provided by your optometrist is contacts, you need to think twice about swimming with your contacts on. There are so many issues that could arise and you risk losing your vision.

Dangers of Swimming with Eye Contacts

According to the FDA, contacts are not meant to be exposed to any water, regardless of how clean it seems to be. This includes the oceans, tap water, hot tubs, swimming pool waters, and showers. Therefore, diving into the deep blue sea with contacts jeopardizes the eye care that the optometrist is providing you.

The FDA forbids usage of contacts while swimming in the deep blue sea because that water has multiple and countless viruses as well as dangerous microbes. Remember that the sea is home to multiple sea animals, their food, skeletons of dead sea animals, sea plants that are poisonous and many other things.

Therefore, diving into these waters with contacts must be avoided to help prevent the bacterial and viral contamination of your eyes. If you do not heed to this advice to risk contacting;

• Eye infections
• Potentially sight-threatening conditions such as Corneal ulcer
• Irritation
• Worsening of the current eye problems

Optometrists believe that some of the most dangerous organisms that could attack your eyes include the Acanthamoeba organism. This is an organism that attaches itself to the contacts and later causes infection and inflammation of the cornea.

The resulting condition is termed as Acanthamoeba keratitis, and it is specifically associated with the wearing of contacts when swimming. The effects include permanent vision loss, which may ultimately lead you to corneal transplant as your optometrist tries to recover the lost vision.

The optometrists insist that the gas permeable contacts that are rigid should never be worn because as you swim, they may dislodge from your eyes. The soft contact is risky too because despite staying intact as you swim, they absorb bacteria and chemicals since they are porous.    

How to Escape the Dangers of Swimming with Eye Contacts

Just in case you dive into the water with your contacts on or accidentally fall, you can still save yourself if you act fast.

• Remove, clean and also disinfect your contacts as soon as you can. This reduces the risk of eye infection and also irritation
• Visit your optometrist soon after this happens just to get checked since it is also necessary for proper eye care.
• Before visiting the optometrist for a checkup, you should at least use glasses because you are not sure whether disinfecting was enough not make the contacts safe again.   

In conclusion, keep your contacts off the water. If you must swim with eye contacts, use the daily disposable contacts, which you must discard immediately after swimming. Your optometrist is always available to provide eye care if have some prolonged light sensitivity or irritation after using contacts in water.    

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