Skiing with contacts

[cacman]

Decided I need to be able to see buoys. wondering what anyone else's experience with wearing contacts. Do they come out or no problems, precautions. Thanks

[gsm_peter]

I use soft contacts type daylies.

I seldom loose a lense.

About 2 times per 50 sl sets.

Never when tricking.

 

Best luck.

 

[markchilcutt]

I use them when I slalom ski and have never lost a lens.

[ski6jones]

Always wear soft lenses, only lost one or 2 over 15+ years, usually involves a yard sale.

[LakeOneSkier]

I've been wearing contacts skiing and 'footing for almost 20 years. Have yet to lose one.

[fu_man]

Contacts never fit me right. Slight astigmatism but barely. Regular contacts didn't fit right, astigmatism contacts didn't fit right. I would get water in my eye and it seemed like it would weigh down the contact and pull away from my eye or droop down. So I couldn't see clearly with them or without them.

 

Ultimately I went the LASIK route and couldn't be happier. Worth every penny if you can swing it.

[Orlando76]

I’m severely blind. I wear soft contacts for astigmatism. I lose maybe two contacts a year skiing. My first pass is always a total wash due to water in my eyes, in between lense, etc. by time my second pass takes place my lenses settle down and I’m good to go for rest of my set.

 

Last year I did an experiment (probably just ran out of contacts) but I skied for a few weeks blind, no contacts. Seeing the 55’s were a b***h but it seemed like I skied better once in the course. I skied more by feel rather visual ques.

[Horton]

I am super unlucky that my eyes do not lubricate well. My eyes dry out super easy and so I lose a lot of contacts. That is why I wear clear goggles and contacts. With the goggles I have almost no problems.

[AdamCord]

When you jump in the water put your face underwater briefly with your eyes open. It makes them stick. Learned that trick from Mapple, who also skied in contacts.

[Calisdad57]

I went with glasses from Silverfish. Great company

[Stevie Boy]

I wear soft daily,s tried goggles which were ok , but when skiing in Florida with or without goggles the contact lens, go milky, they are a water based product, so there is no clear vision, I am now considering prescription goggles, has anybody had any experience with these ?

[slow]

Contacts work great for me. Wouldn’t do lasik unless you obsolutely have too. Very very hard to do cateract surgery in your later years if you have had lasik.

[kc]

I’m in same boat as @Horton. I too wear goggles over soft lens.

[DW]

@cacman: Also a contact wearer, gas perms. Ski and barefoot with them on, lose one every few years and mostly on barefoot falls. You will lose more at first as you learn to close the eyes when falls are imminent.

[Bookm_dano]

I've been skiing and footing with soft contacts for decades. Have lost maybe two or three. Only issue I have is if I get a bunch of water in my eyes on the start, they slide up under my upper eyelids and render me completely blind for about a minute or two....not so bad free skiing but pretty much zeros out a pass on the course.

Only occurs in fresh water; salt water makes them expand/soften.

[wilecoyote]

2 years in the course wearing contacts for me. Ski average about 5 sets/week. I've lost one in a yard sale fall so far. I will say though that it seems to be random but like others have said, sometimes on a deep water start they'll get all messed up and vision gets pretty bad. No biggie though, when you see more than one buoy, just take the one on the left.

 

Something not mentioned here so far, you must wear dailies only if you are skiing, monthlies are a no no.

[TomH]

I've skied with soft contacts for well over 15 years. I've never lost one on slalom, but probably wash about one out a year on barefoot deeps. My one gripe is my lenses are fairly hydrophilic (which I like for general comfort and they don't dry out as easily), but if I get a little bit of water on them during a start, they'll go completely blurry until I blink all the water out, which has resulted in a few spectacular diggers barefooting. My previous lenses weren't as comfortable, but didn't blur out at all.

[Nando]

Have skied for over 30 years with them and never lost one skiing (I take 'em out on those rare occasions when I foot). I did tear one when I got hit in the eye with a june bug while pulling out for my gate- the doc said the lens probably kept me from getting a worse cornea scratch. I also had one come out in a big OTF where I also got a concussion- it was hanging on my eyelash when they hauled me out of the water. Much nicer to see when you ski...

[lakeho26]

Started skiing with contacts this year. I sometimes get spray in my face on my off side and becomes blurry in one eye, quite annoying but still feel the contacts are a big help.

[ALPJr]

This was my 30th season with contacts. Haven't lost any skiing.

[david_ski]

I have been wearing contacts skiing since 1996. I have only lost 2 contacts over the last 22 years. The second time happed this season. They were both epic yard sales. Both cases the contact wasn’t really lost, it just gets folded and pushed under the eyelid. In trying to get it out, it gets damaged in the process.

 

Without contacts I couldn't see (or focus on) the balls if I tried to ski faster then 30mph. Contacts opened up this sport for me.

 

I also dunk my face into the water with eyes open before the first pass to make sure they are moistened. Sometimes I try to catch some spray in the face on the deep water start instead of the face dunk. It doesn’t work as reliable as the face dunk.

 

I have never had any issues with my eyes and have not had any infections or eye irritations from lake or pond water.

[kreipe]

I've only lost 1 in 15 years or so - an out the front disaster. Otherwise no problems. I don't generally have problems with contacts out of the water unlike some of the people here. I think you'll be surprised how easy it is to get the habit of doing that when needed.

[cacman]

Thanks for all the info. I currently have been trying contacts but boy what a struggle putting in and taking out dailies.

[Skoot1123]

Contact wearing since high school here. Haven’t lost a contact skiing, but I too use soft contacts. If it is a windy day and there is a lot of spray it can/could be a little bit of a nuisance when gliding, but once you are in the course it’s all business and I don’t notice the spray.

[Garn]

I second @AdamCord , just dunk you head under water for half a second with your eyes open. No problem after that.