Can You Wear Contacts With Goggles In A Pool?

Do you wear contact lenses and wonder whether you can wear them to the swimming pool? Well, you cannot, because their contact with any type of water could lead to serious eye problems.

But the question here is: Can you swim with contact lenses and goggles, as in, wear the swimming goggles over your eyes to prevent water from getting in?

Well, any type of contact with water and contact lenses is best avoided. Most contact lenses are porous, so they allow water through. Since water contains microbes, they will get into the eyes and cause serious eye health problems.

Even when you are wearing swimming goggles with a tight silicone skirt to prevent water from getting in, it is best not to swim with a contact lens. Some water will definitely get through the goggles’ skirt and get to the eyes.

Can I wear contact lenses while swimming?

Precisely, people ask, can I wear contact lenses for swimming if I close my eyes? Well, how will you see where you are swimming if you keep your eyes closed?

Wearing contact lenses while you are taking part in any water activity, including bathing and showering, is a no-no.

But there is a small chance that you can wear them in the shower if they are disposable daily lenses. All the same, do keep your eyes fully closed through the shower time until you can wipe your face dry.

Even the water that you think is cleanest can still pass bacteria to your eyes. While shocking the pool with chlorine kills bacteria, it does not do so immediately. Some bacteria can survive in chlorine conditions for a few days.

So whether you are swimming in a saltwater or chlorine pool, do not swim with contact lenses. It is best to remove them and store them as advised.

Swimming in the ocean would even be worse because the water is really contaminated. It contains human waste, animal waste, industrial waste, and other pollutants. Also, the high amount of salt in the water might not be good for contact lenses.

Can you wear contact lenses with swimming goggles?

Yes, you could wear the contact lenses with the swim goggles if you do not swim in them! But why should you even wear the anti-fog swimming goggles if you do not intend to swim?

Since there are two types of lenses, soft and rigid ones, perhaps you ask why you should not swim in either.

The soft contact lenses are porous, and they will allow microbes to get in. Also, the chemicals in the pool water can damage them.

The soft lenses also do not allow oxygen to get to your eyes when they get wet. This causes irritation and pain sometimes. This is a good enough reason not to wear the lenses.

The rigid lenses are stiff, and while they are not porous, water will dislodge them from your eyes, and you will lose them.

Because of these risks, you had better remove your contact lenses before you get into the water. This applies to heated swimming pools for winter, as well as cold water swimming.

Can you swim with contact lenses if you have really bad eyesight?

If you have blurry vision, and you still want to swim, there are options for you, but swimming with contact lenses is not one of them!

Most people just assume that because they can swim with cochlear implants for the ear, they can also swim with contact lenses. This is very different.

Wear prescription goggles

The same way there are prescription glasses, there are prescription goggles for swimming.

If you wear prescription glasses, you can wear swim goggles over them and swim if you feel comfortable enough. In our post on how to swim with bad eyesight, we elaborated on this a lot more.

Prescription swimming goggles can come ready-made for basic eye prescriptions. However, if you want to order custom ones, you can still do so online.

Just send your requirements to the makers of the goggles, and they will customize them for you. If you are short-sighted or long-sighted, there are goggles for those particular issues.

Also, modern prescription goggles for swimming come with advanced features such as shatterproof lenses, tight fit with skin-friendly silicone skirt, antifog function and so on.

Once you get used to wearing these goggles, they will feel comfortable enough.

3 Reasons you shouldn’t swim with contact lenses

So much about not swimming with contact lenses, but exactly why should you not use them? Here are the reasons:

They will get lost

The water in your above ground swimming pool is going to dislodge the lenses, and they will get lost in the water. Lost lenses equal lost money. Trying to find a contact lens in a large swimming pool is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Both the soft and rigid contact lenses can get lost inside the pool. Of course, the chance of losing contacts increases when you swim in the Dead Sea, the Great Salt Lake, or any other open water body. It is just best not to swim with them.

They will make your eyes dry and uncomfortable

Soft contact lenses are bound to tighten up when they get wet. This reduces their porosity, so they do not allow enough oxygen to get to the eyes. This will make your eyes feel dry and uncomfortable.

The rigid contact lenses are not going to tighten up. However, they are likely to dislodge and get lost in the swimming pool.

It is expressly prohibited

If you ask the people who fitted the contact lenses for you, they will tell you that you should never swim, sleep, or shower with them.

Thus, if you ignore this advice, you will only have yourself to blame for the consequences, which would mostly leave you with damaged contacts. When it comes to medical wearables for eyes, ears, mouth, and so on, follow the advice.

Final thoughts

You cannot swim with contacts because they can sustain damage or cause you eye problems. In the past, we have looked at various health conditions in this blog.

For instance, we said you can swim with a yeast infection, without making it worse. We also said you can swim in the ocean with a herpes outbreak.

You just need to wear the right attire for swimming. However, one thing that is expressly prohibited is swimming with contact lenses.

Exposing the contact lenses to any type of water, such as a shower, bathtub, ocean water, lake, river, or pool, is prohibited. No matter how clean the water looks, it has microbes, and they will get into your eyes.