Can I wear my contacts in water?

Contact lenses and water are two things that you probably should not mix. While wearing contacts daily has numerous benefits, one should also be aware of their eye health, and various situations which might affect it. Let us put this out for all contact lens wearers:

• Take our contacts out before going to bed.
• Do not wear the lenses more than the prescribed duration.
• Never wear them in water.

No swimming with contact lenses, please.

Ok, this is going to be difficult to digest, but contact lenses and regular water, do not love each other at all. Not even filtered water, because that too retains some chemicals and bacteria and these can cause issues with your contacts. This is the main reason not to wear contacts in water. Yes, you sometimes ingest the same water and you may think, I am completely fine. That's true because your stomach is equipped to deal with these bacteria but your eyes are unfortunately not.

Every time you go swimming wearing your contacts, you run the risk of trapping bacteria and pathogens under your lenses. This is especially true for natural water bodies like lakes, ponds and the sea. The water there is more bacteria rich and the probability of something getting stuck under your eye is significantly more.

Ok, that does not mean you will run to the swimming pool with your contacts on, just because the water in swimming pools contains less bacteria compared to a pond. Yes it does contain less bacteria, but it still does have chlorine in it, and like water chlorine too can pass under your eyes causing irritation and redness. Showering is much safer but is still not recommended, because we tend to rub our eyes more often while taking a bath, and you don't want such unwarranted friction in your eyes.

I live life on the edge.

All right champ. Despite us warning you, not to wear contacts in water. You have still come this far, just to find out if there is actually a way to wear them. While the answer is still no, we can sort of help you bend the rules. So here goes...

Wear goggles

The benefit of wearing contacts is that you don’t have anything over your eyes at all times which means it’s simple to put on a pair of goggles while you’re swimming. Doing this will reduce the likelihood of infection plus you’ll be able to see clearly underwater. Win-win.

Clean your lenses

Immediately after swimming, take out your contacts and rinse them with solution. This will wash away any unwelcome visitors. We’d also recommend waiting before putting them back in. It’s best to wait overnight for your contacts to clean themselves in their solution, but at least wait a few minutes before putting them back in.

Toss your daily lenses

If you wear daily lenses, then they need to be thrown away after your swim. Make sure to remove your contacts as soon as possible and dispose of them. We’d also recommend giving your eyes a rest before putting in a new pair.

Rewetting drops are your friend

Using rewetting drops before and after a swim with contacts may help move bacteria out of your eye. Rewetting drops provide additional hydration to the surface of your eye allowing particles and pathogens to flow out more easily.
Taking care of your eye health is a priority but doesn’t need to get in the way of a carefree, spontaneous life. Have fun and keep these tips in mind the next time you consider going for a swim.