Can I Swim With Contact Lenses?

Shlomit Schaal loves to swim in open water, but she knows she needs to take some precautions while swimming with contact lenses.

“It is true that contact lenses are the more prevalent source of severe infection to the cornea and the eye,” says Schaal, an ophthalmologist and member of Worcester Area Masters. Such infections, she adds, can lead to a loss of vision or of the eye itself.

Wearing contact lenses in the pool can lead to infection, too, but the presence of chlorine kills many pathogens and can limit the range of potential hazards.

However, in open water, the potential risk of infection is magnified because there could be a wide variety of organisms, such as bacteria or amoebas, that can cause significant infections or injury if they gain access to the eye.

“The pool is one area of danger, but in open water where you do not have control of the level of different organisms, it’s really important to be safe,” says Schaal, president of the UMass Memorial Medical Group and senior associate dean for health strategies at the UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Staying safe starts with good hand hygiene. Always thoroughly wash your hands with soap before you touch your eyes or contacts. Always wash your hands well before putting in or removing your contacts.

During your swim, always wear goggles that completely prevent water from getting into your eyes. The goggles “should be able to protect and create a barrier between you and the water,” Schaal says.

You’ll need to maintain that barrier throughout the swim to prevent leakage. That doesn’t mean you can’t take your goggles off if you’re pausing for a rest; the point is that once you put your goggles back on, the seal needs to be tight to keep water out.

As soon as you’ve completed your swim, wash your hands again with soap and remove your contact lenses. This way, if any water droplets did find their way into your goggles or eyes and potentially brought a pathogen with them, it will likely be removed with the contact lens.

Schaal recommends using daily disposable contact lenses if you’re going to wear them while swimming. Though they tend to be more expensive than traditional reusable contacts, they can be simply thrown away at the end of the swim, which eliminates potential reintroduction of bacteria or other organisms when the contacts are reinserted.

Schaal notes that if your eye is red, itchy, or sore, it’s best not to insert a contact lens until the irritation clears up. Those signs could indicate that there’s an infection starting.

Instead, opt for prescription goggles because these will afford some assistance when sighting. However, for most people, prescription goggles probably won’t offer as clear a view as your prescription contact lenses.

It’s also important to make sure you’ve got the right contact lenses for you. When you get a prescription for contact lenses, be sure to visit your ophthalmologist or optometrist for a correct fitting. “You don’t want the contact lens to rub your eye and you want the right material for you,” Schaal says. Your eye doctor can help you find the perfect fit.

If after any swim your eyes are red and painful, it’s best to check in with your eye doctor to make sure it’s not something serious, Schaal says. She adds that antibiotics can be highly effective against some infections, but you have to have the right diagnosis and get the right treatment for it.

She also says you should never use someone else’s eye drops. “Make sure you get the exam and get the correct drop for you, because everyone is different,” and every infection can be different from the one before. Plus, as soon as a bottle of eye drops is opened, it can become contaminated with bacteria, and you definitely don’t want to be sharing that with anyone else.

Schaal may be in the minority among optometrists and ophthalmologists because many of them advise strongly against ever wearing contact lenses when swimming. However, she acknowledges that being able to see where you’re going and enjoy the journey is a big piece of open water safety and enjoyment. What’s more, prescription goggles typically don’t offer as good vision correction for some people, such as those with astigmatism, and they can be easily lost or scratched.

“Especially in open water, you do want to enjoy nature,” Schaal says. “You want to be able to spot the eagle and see the fish underneath you.” And contacts can help those of us with less-than-perfect vision get a prime view of the wonders of the aquatic landscape.