Most interactions with the world demand eye-related vigilance, but leisurely or competitive swimming is an exception. Swimmers rely on the sense of touch while taking brief glimpses of above and underwater surroundings. While maintaining vision is impractical while swimming, it’s a risk to ocular health.
Pool chemicals and water pressure harms contacts and eyes. Swimmers rely on a sense of touch to compensate for vision as well as wear goggles for improved vision. Protect your eyes by minding the following information.
Contacts
Contacts are incredible inventions, allowing those with eye deficiencies to free their lives of eyeglasses. However, swimming and contacts do not mix well; too many opportunities arise, running the risk of damaging or losing a contact.
Goggles, hosting corrective lenses, are available to swimmers. While it does not make much practical sense to wear glasses or contacts in the pool, the need for immediate vision is understood. Some prefer to swim with glasses on, yet it’s uncomfortable, and the situation does not protect the eyes from chemicals and pressure.
Vision
Those who have exceptional vision need not worry about corrective lens goggles or contacts in the water, yet seeing underwater is not optimal, the reason divers and swimmers wear a variety of goggles in addition to safety. Light does not reach the eyes very well underwater, obstructing clear and vivid vision.
Goggles not only improve vision, but also allow swimmers to be vigilant of immediate surroundings. Habitual swimmers pair aquatic exercise with goggles, escaping immediate and ongoing eye irritation.
Irritation
Those who swam often as a child may remember the fuzzy, itchy and irritated feeling following long periods of water play. Light winds are significant enough to induce blinking; it’s easy to imagine how oncoming water pressure can irritate eyes.
Chemicals and pH levels are not the sole reason for discomfort. Amid ‘perfect’ chemical levels, one’s eyes can still experience irritation. Goggles eliminate redness and eye irritation, a result of continuous swimming and pool usage.
Treatment
Though people take precaution, wearing protective goggles, some irritation may prevail. Washing eyes with warm water or saline solution mitigates irritation. Furthermore, over-the-counter remedies, offered by pharmacies and local drug stores, offer quick relief. If severe irritation persists, or symptoms of irritation grow worse, stop swimming, and contact your physician.
In the event of contact lens irritation, take lenses out of the eye, contacting your physician or optometrist soon after. Visit NextdayLenses.com for further information on corrective contact lenses.
As referenced, if conditions worsen, or irritation lasts for longer than a couple of hours after swimming, contact a professional. Chlorine contamination can result in clouded vision, but in worst-case scenarios, thick pus-like discharges may be present.
Children
A number of children love playing and swimming in pools and oceans, sometimes doing so for hours at a time. While swimming is excellent exercise, long-term presence could result in eye irritation or worse. Protect the eyes of children with goggles. Additionally, due to safety risk, children should never go in the water wearing eyeglasses or contact lenses.
Simon Walters has been an optometrist for many years. He enjoys helping people find practical solutions for vision correction needs.