Swimming with Contact Lenses Could Cause Infections.

An often-overlooked danger in swimming in lakes and pools comes from a source most people would never suspect: contact lenses. It might sound like an urban myth, but eye specialists say that wearing soft or rigid gas-permeable contacts in lakes or pools can lead to serious infection and even blindness.

The problem is most people are not aware of the danger. People who wear contact lens normally swim and exercise in the pool with their lenses on. Especially is their vision is so bad they can barely see without them on.

Swimmer Get Painful Eye Infection

An example of the danger is the torturous battle 16-year-old Jackie Stillmaker's with Acanthamoeba keratitis, a rare but painful infection of the cornea, Lasik eye surgery is looking more attractive.

She swam in both a lake and a wave pool while wearing soft contact lenses and developed an eye infection. Her doctor diagnosed pink eye, but she wasn't responding to the medication. Weeks later the teen woke up in excruciating pain, with white circles around her cornea.

The problem was a microscopic, water-borne parasite named Acanthamoeba. This creature, which especially loves the spongy plastic of soft lenses (but also adheres itself to gas permeable) is found everywhere; in the soil and dust and in water sources such as lakes, rivers, hot tubs, chlorinated swimming pools, tap water and even bottled water.

Once the protozoan gets into the eye, the lens holds it there. Acanthamoeba can then invade the cornea, causing an infection or corneal ulcer. Symptoms include feeling as if there's something in your eye, watery eyes, blurred vision, sensitivity to light, swelling of the upper eyelid and extreme pain. If detected early, when only the surface layer of the cornea is infected, it may respond rapidly to treatment. If the parasite takes up residence, it can take a year or longer to remedy.

The actual number of people that get infected with Acanthamoeba is small, but in the Chicago area, 35 cases were reported between May 2003 and May 2005.

According to Randy Epstein, Stillmaker's doctor and a professor ofophthalmology at Rush University Medical Center. "Almost all other infections can be readily treated. When people get this one, it can be really devastating." Epstein is adamant that all swimmers, should go without lenses
If you take the risk, eye doctors say with a cringe, consider swimming with a daily disposable lens.

That way you can immediately throw them away afterward and start with a fresh pair. Gas-permeable wearers - about 15 percent of lens users - should consider the lenses contaminated and disinfect them after a swim. Never sleep in lenses, especially after swimming.