Eye infections anyone?

[huskychemist]

First, some background. I have worn glasses since the 6th grade (my eyes were bad enough that I walked out of the optometrist wearing my new, really cool looking turtle shell glasses and suddenly realized the trees had leaves, and weren't just massive globs of green). In the 9th grade I started wearing contacts. (Had to be cool for high school...) So I've been wearing soft lenses for 22 years. And in those years, I've done everything with my contacts in. Played football, basketball, swam, played at the beach, competed in downhill mountain bike races, etc. I've only ever lost a lens once, my senior year in high school when I dove into a pool. And until January of this year, I had gone all that time without ever having had an eye infection. Now I have another one. So that makes 21 years with no eye infections, and six months with two. No, I don't use the solution that is in the news for causing fungal infections. So that's not the problem. I wear disposables, so I have clean lenses every two weeks. I take good care of my lenses, and wash my hands well before sticking them in my eye, etc.

So what's different for me? Well, I started scuba diving last September (almost all of it in the beautiful waters of Puget Sound). So my hypothesis is that I get more eye infections now because my eyes get irritated by the salt water, and having contacts exacerbates the problem.

So...I'm not looking for a diagnosis here...I know what the infection is, and am on eye drops to fix it.

What I'm looking for is this: Do any of you experience eye problems related to diving? How do you deal with them? Any of you had Lasik? I'm contemplating that for this summer, but need to choose a time when I won't mind being out of the water for a few weeks. (Yes, I know Lasik is in other threads...and I'll do more searching of that later. But my search didn't find much about eye infections.)

And one thing I think I need to do better is rinse my face and eyes after getting out of the water... Other ideas?

Thanks for any ideas you can share.

Lowell

 

[gangrel441]

My wife had lasik done 3 years ago, and she has since logged over 50 dives. No complications, no halo effect, no infections. Before that she dove with contacts, and never had any problems, but was always in fear of flooding her mask. Now mask flood and clear is no problem for her.

A few pointers - make sure if you go for the procedure that you get the bladeless done. Also, her pupils are large, which doesn't really matter, but it does make a difference. Because of that, she had to have the custom procedure done with the corneal mapping and a larger than usual flap. If you go to a good doc, he will brief you on such things.

Most importantly, let us know what you decide to do and how it goes!

 

[J75]

Huskey,

Your post had me cracking up (the comment about the trees). My contact history is very similar, but I haven't had an adverse effects from diving. I am always certain to take my lenses out at the end of a diving day and give them a fresh rinse. Don't know if that will help. But so far I've been lucky. Hope all clears up for you soon enough.

 

[Web Monkey]

Contact lenses work great, but you should be using disposables for diving, and then toss them after the dive.

The normal contact lens solutions don't seem to be able to kill off all the funky stuff in the seawater.

Terry

First, some background. I have worn glasses since the 6th grade (my eyes were bad enough that I walked out of the optometrist wearing my new, really cool looking turtle shell glasses and suddenly realized the trees had leaves, and weren't just massive globs of green). In the 9th grade I started wearing contacts. (Had to be cool for high school...) So I've been wearing soft lenses for 22 years. And in those years, I've done everything with my contacts in. Played football, basketball, swam, played at the beach, competed in downhill mountain bike races,

 

[RumBum]

I had Lasik in Jan this year. It's awesome. I also had very bad uncorrected vision since a young age. Getting Lasik was a life-changing event for me. It's stupid things, like being able to see the alarm clock first thing in the morning. Being able to watch a movie with my head on a pillow (I couldn't wear contact lenses.) Being able to read the tiny writing on the menu board at a fast food restaurant. Also, I feel much more attractive w/o my glasses.
AND I don't have the contact headaches after diving!
Oh, and I agree with Webmonkey about changing your lenses after diving. With an addition that when you take them out after diving, WASH YOUR HANDS first!

 

[huskychemist]

Great. Thanks for the great tips. I wear "pseudo" disposables that I change twice per month. So this afternoon, after reading the thread, I went to my eye doctor and ordered some one-day disposables to use for diving. Wear them, take them out...hopefully I'll have less problems that way.

And I'll be getting Lasik at some point. Thanks for the tips. And RumBum, the "no glasses" look definitely works!

Thanks again for the tips. I only wish I had thought of the disposable idea first!