Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site pegasus.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!hou3c!hocda!houxm!hogpc!pegasus!avi From: avi@pegasus.UUCP Newsgroups: net.med Subject: Re: Extended Wear Contacts - Some Questions and Answers (Swimming) Message-ID: <909@pegasus.UUCP> Date: Sun, 5-Feb-84 22:04:13 EST Article-I.D.: pegasus.909 Posted: Sun Feb 5 22:04:13 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 8-Feb-84 10:09:50 EST References: <905@hou5e.UUCP> <436@pyuxn.UUCP> Organization: AT&T Information Systems, Lincroft NJ Lines: 33 I have been getting quite comfortable with my extended wear contacts. My visual acuity is not as good as with my normal lenses, but I hardly notice them when they are in. Rubbing my eyes and showering are no longer a problem -- now that my rubbing & blinking habits have changed. I would never have thought of wearing my lenses while swimming, until some people mentioned it on the net a while ago.I find that swimming a mile with my lenses in is no problem. Goggles can help, but they remove much of my peripheral vision. If you don't open your eyes wide, and don't dive under water, and avoid splashers, there is little danger of losing a lens. However, the chlorine can cause problems. I have experienced conformational changes in one lens that caused diminished vision and discomfort for a few hours -- until my natural tears washed away the chlorine and restored the proper osmotic balance to restore the lens to the proper shape. My optometrist says that this can reduce the useful lifetime of my lens by about a factor of two. However, since I swim at least every other day, there would be little point in having extended wear lenses unless I could keep them in for extended periods. (My longest has been six weeks) A few tips I have been given (for my type of HydroCurve lenses) include: - Only keep the lenses in the enzymatic solution for about two hours -- not ovbernight. - Use a saline solution, not distilled water. These steps help prevent infiltartion of the lens by the enzyme, due to conformational changes in the lens -- while still cleaning off protein deposits. I see no major signs of allergic reaction, although the skin below my eyes gets reddish at times. -- -=> Avi E. Gross @ AT&T Information Systems Laboratories (201) 576-6241 suggested paths: [ihnp4, allegra, cbosg, hogpc, ...]!pegasus!avi