Can you shower and swim in contact lenses?!
Question:
Can you shower and swim in contact lenses?
Answers:
You should not wear your contacts in the shower or when swimming for a few reasons. Getting soap/shampoo in your lenses would contaminate them and irritate your eyes. Contaminates like that even with cleansing may be hard to get out of your contacts. It is also possible for your contacts to get flushed out of your eyes and loose them..... but that is not the major issue......
You should not expose your contact lenses to tap/fresh water at all!
I know it doesn't seem very harmful but it can be very dangerous. Tap/fresh water is known to contain an ameba called Acanthamoeba. If this microbe attaches itself to your contact lens it can cause a very bad infection called Acanthamoeba keratitis. This infection is hard to treat and in serious cases it can cause loss of vision. So best thing to do is not expose your contacts to tap/fresh water at all! So yes that means no swimming and no showering with them in! For swimming you may want to consider prescription goggles or daily disposibles that you can throw out after swimming :)
Anyways hope this helps a bit! :)
EDIT**** Im with you Mrs S!!!
I know many people will say its ok to wear contacts in water they do it all the time etc.... but just because they do it and nothing has happened doesn't mean that nothing ever will!
ANYONE who tells you that is safe to use contacts while swimming is very ignornant towards proper contact lens wear and care. I would strongly advise against doing so......why would you risk an infection that could cost your sight? Its just not worth it! Anyone that doubts me can do the slightest amount of research on the issue and find out the answers for themselves http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/contactlenses/ey... (Scroll Down to the DO NOT section)
Anyways Its not like I am saying a person will get infected! I am saying there is a chance! Also knowing how most people care for their lenses (NOT WELL) their risks are even higher of their eyes getting infected!!!
Its almost like having sex with different partners without a condom...lol You can do it a bunch of times without getting "infected".... but it just takes that one time you weren't careful! lol
Anyways I think it just easier to avoid a possible chance of contamination and just not wear your contacts in the water!