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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
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