I received an email from a former colleague this morning who was alarmed to discover that Olympic water polo players were wearing contact lenses in the pool. A quick search on the web seems to indicate that goggles cannot be worn as they may cause damage to both the wearer and fellow competitors. As a result, it seems competitors are recommended they wear daily disposable lenses and remove them after the game. The American Food and Drug Administration has this week advised that contact lenses shouldn't be exposed to any kind of water, including tap water, in swimming pools, the sea or even during showers as a result of the danger of Acanthamoeba http://news.yahoo.com/one-good-reason-wear-goggles-pool-151523761.html?_esi=1 So, in general and water polo aside, the advice is to wear swimming goggles, preferably prescription goggles as water may still get into your contact lenses if you are wearing a non-prescription goggle and contacts. Recent research by CIBA Vision into contact lenses and sport found that water sports was the area with the greatest increase in demand for vision correction among UK practitioners. It also found that 46 per cent of practitioners, when asked what visual aid they usually recommend for swimming, said off-the-shelf powered goggles, 29 per cent made to order powered goggles, 13 per cent contact lenses with close fitting goggles, 7 per cent avoid wearing contact lenses, plano swimming goggles at 3 per cent and, going very much against conventional wisdom, contact lenses-only were recomended by 2 per cent.
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