Renee M. is a member of VSP's Corporate Marketing & Brand Management team.
Part One of a three-part series on the do’s and don’ts of wearing contact lenses while training for triathlon. As someone who needs visual correction to see at a distance, I’m often faced with the dilemma of contact lenses over eyeglasses while training. I love my contacts, especially during the summer months when slippage-prone, sweat-smudged specs become insufferable. But, as I learned recently, wearing contacts isn’t without its limitations. Last Sunday, after a grueling 30-mile bike ride in 103 degree heat, I went for a cool-down swim in Lake Natoma. Since I wasn’t swimming for distance, I hadn’t brought my goggles or swim cap. But it being so hot, and me being so sweaty, nothing but a full dunk would do. So I figured that I would simply close my eyes while under water. No harm in that, right?
Well, I soon discovered it wasn’t the going under that I should’ve been worried about. As soon as I came up for air and opened my eyes, I realized I couldn’t see far away. A tightness settled over my eyeballs, as if the lake water had turned my contact lenses into Shrinky Dinks. I blinked and blinked, trying to coax my contact lenses back in place, but this only seemed to make them grow tighter. When the gentle coaxing didn’t work, I resorted to rubbing my eyes. News flash: rubbing one’s eyes does not help one successfully tread water. Plus, rubbing only made things worse because rather than simply being out of place, I was certain one of my contact lenses was now lodged behind my eyeball.
Half-blind in one eye and tiring quickly, I headed back to shore where I conclusively determined that one of my contact lenses had become a drowning victim. And worse still, I would have to drive home Cyclops-style, with one “working” eye.
The next day, I called my VSP doctor because alas, that was my last pair of contact lenses and I wanted to know what the heck happened. My doctor explained that all it takes is a small amount of water to get into my eyes and my contact lenses would eventually shift out of place. Massaging (i.e. rubbing) them back into place, of course, is the worst thing to do. I assured her I’d never do something that dumb… She recommended that no matter what the distance, I should swim with goggles when wearing contacts because of the possibility of developing Acanthamoeba keratitis. One Google images search later (yuck) and you can believe I’m goggling up every time I go for a swim.
