By Faye Napigkit
Being outdoors is a lot of fun, especially if you’re with your friends. However, spending time outdoors can be a hassle for contact lens wearers because they have to take additional precautions.
The great thing is that it doesn’t have to be a hassle. Whether you’re planning on going camping, hiking or trail running, or doing any sort of outdoor activity, here are nine contact lens safety tips that will enable you to maximize your enjoyment of nature.
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Contents
Wear daily disposable contact lenses.
Wearing bi-weekly or monthly contact lenses when you’re spending an extended period outdoors isn’t advisable. For one thing, you’ll have to do your contact lens cleaning routine every day, which will take away from your enjoyment of the outdoors. Being outdoors also increases the risk of buildup developing on your reusable contact lenses, which can then lead to eye irritation or infection.
The answer is to wear daily disposable contact lenses (dailies). You put them in at the beginning of your day, remove them at night, and then start with fresh lenses the next morning. They’re much easier to maintain when you’re outdoors, so you’ll have more time to enjoy your adventure.
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Get an eye exam.
If you’re currently using extended wear contact lenses, consult with your eye care professional about switching to dailies. Your eye care professional will also be able to give you advice on the best ways to take care of your lenses while you’re outdoors.
You can also get a prescription via an online eye exam. Online eye exams function just like the eye exams you get at your eye doctor’s office. They’re accurate because the eye care professionals review your results before providing you with your prescription. Most importantly, they’re 100% safe and convenient since you complete the eye exam from the comfort of your home. With online eye exams, you don’t run the risk of exposing yourself to COVID-19.
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Keep your hands clean.
Ideally, you’ll want to bring antibacterial soap and clean towels or fresh paper towels (to dry your hands) with you. The problem is that a clean water source isn’t always readily available when you’re outdoors unless you bring your own.
The next best thing is to bring antibacterial wipes, rubbing alcohol, or hand sanitizer. Make sure you clean your hands with any of these before you touch your contact lenses or your eyes. No list of contact lens safety tips would be complete without this. When your hands are clean, you avoid transferring germs and bacteria that can cause serious eye infections.
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Use a screw-on contact lens case.
It’s perfectly fine to wear reusable contact lenses during your outdoor adventure. You just have to store your contact lenses inside a case with screw-on lids. These cases are far more durable than others and can withstand the rigors of travel.
Moreover, the screw-on lids are watertight when appropriately sealed. This ensures that no dirt, grime, or bacteria will come into touch with your contact lenses even while you’re outdoors taking in nature.
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Use a no-rub contact lens solution.
There are many types of contact lens solutions available. For outdoor adventures, though, the best type to use is a no-rub solution. With this type of solution, you don’t have to rub the contact lenses to clean them. You just have to rinse. This lessens the risk of bacteria getting onto the contact lenses, especially if you’re not able to wash your hands with soap and water because there is no water source available.
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Bring spare contact lenses.
Always bring extra contact lenses whenever you plan on spending a significant amount of time outdoors. This enables you to easily insert a fresh contact lens if the contact lens you’re currently wearing gets dislodged from your eye somehow or dirt gets into it.
If your trip is going to last three days and you have three days’ worth of dailies with you, then bring at least an extra three days’ worth of dailies. This way, you won’t ever run out of fresh contact lenses to wear for the duration of your trip.
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Pack your prescription eyeglasses.
Avoid the urge to leave your glasses at home. In case of an emergency, you’ll want your glasses handy so that you can see even without wearing your contact lenses.
You can take every precaution, but when it comes to the outdoors, there are just some things that you can’t prepare for. For example, you might develop an allergy from the environment that you’re in that affects your eyes and makes it painful to wear your contact lenses. If you have your glasses with you, then you don’t have to suffer through such an event. While this post is about Contact Lens Safety Tips, it is always best to have a backup plan.
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Moisturize your eyes often.
The elements of the outdoors can be harsh. If you’re camping or hiking, you’ll likely have a fire going on a regular basis. You use the fire to keep warm, to cook, and to boil water. This can dry out your eyes.
The only way to counter dry eyes when wearing contact lenses is to use moisturizing eye drops. These eye drops help relieve dry eyes, redness, and allergic reactions. Don’t just go for any eye drops, though. If you’re not already using them, ask your eye care professional to prescribe you preservative-free eye drops since they are the safest for your eyes.
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Protect your eyes from the sun.
Just like your skin, your eyes need protection from the sun’s harmful UV radiation. When you’re outdoors, you spend more time exposed to sunlight, so you make sure that you protect your eyes.
You need to wear contact lenses that block UVA and UVB rays, but that isn’t enough. You also need to wear sturdy sunglasses that are built for the outdoors and designed for rigorous activities. For maximum protection, wear sunglasses that block 100% of UVA and UVB rays. The manufacturer will indicate this on the tag of the sunglasses.
Conclusion: Contact Lens Safety Tips
Spending time outdoors doesn’t have to be a problem even if you wear contact lenses. As long as you follow the advice mentioned in this post, you can be sure that your next trip will go without a hitch.
Faye Napigkit is a Content Marketing Specialist at Lens.com. Reading and writing are her passions. When she's not working, she's either playing with her two dogs or practicing yoga online.
She lives in a tropical country and would love to spend every day in the mountains or at the beach.
Some really great tips here! It’s not something I would have actually thought about either. Great read
I used to wear contacts, but it was tough to keep up with it. I would love to start wearing them again. Great tips!
To take care of contact lenses during camping or outdoor adventure is really needed for those who wear contact lenses. It is good you have talked about how to take care of them. Handling with clean hands is very essential as eyes are very sensitive part of the body. Also to carry spare spectacles is good idea because those tiny lenses can be misplaced or get dirty. I will share this to my friends who uses lenses and love outdoor trips too.
I do not know that there are disposable contact lenses. My son will love this since he’s looking into contact lenses and it will help him a lot during his camping trips with the Boy Scout. I agree with you to bring extras, and no matter what, to bring your glasses. Somehow you will need it when you are out there.
I would have loved to have these tips before starting my contact lens journey! Your post will help so many!
Thanks for sharing this, my daughter wears glasses and plays volley ball.
Thank you so much for sharing these great tips that could make our lives healthier. Thanks for sharing.
These are some great tips for people who use contact lens. I generally wear my glasses when I go outdoors but it is hard sometimes to manage especially during the hikes. I would love to try the disposable contact lens sometime.
These are all amazing tips, something that I’m sure every contact lens user would appreciate having this knowledge. I never knew that there would be different tips and tricks for a contact lens wearer, but it makes sense!
I’ve never considered the challenges of camping with contact lenses before, but you make some great points. Especially the one about how to clean your lenses if you are camping somewhere where you can’t wash your hands properly with soap and water. Many of our best camping adventures were completely off the grid, which would make that difficult at best. That being said, you’ve offered a great solution. I have a few friends that I’m going to have to share this with!
These are great tips. I have never really thought about this because I have always been wearing glasses and I am quite happy with my color-changing lens. But wow, this is an eye-opener for those who wear contact lenses and who love the outdoors.
I feel I am lucky that I do not need to wear spectacles or lenses. There are so many preparations required for those using lenses specifically. Great tips for ensuring a safe trip back home after enjoying a holiday. My sister uses lenses and this post would be a great reminder for her..
Wow! Thanks for the extensive tips. While normally I choose everything re-usable, certain things like contact lenses while traveling are best used disposable. Ofcourse the glasses is essential as a fall-back option. Using a screw-type lid is a super important tip that’s easily overlooked. Nothing more disastrous than digging the bag only to find the case open and lens ruined!
Omg!! I wish I could have asked for something more. We are preparing to travel and lenses are always an issue with me. Would keep these tips in mind.
As someone who loves outdoors I definitely find all of these helpful especially with reminder to keep all items stored well and clean!
Great tips! I think I am finally going to make the switch from glasses to contacts. I’ll keep this handy!
I’m thinking to replace my spectacles with contact lenses. This is super helpful guide for me to stay careful in advance.
This is such an informative post for people who wears contact lenses. I am going to share it with my sister who loves to go camping and she wears contact lenses too.
My partner wears contact lenses and one of the reasons she’s somewhat reluctant to go on multiday outdoor trips is because of the hassle with contact lenses. I think she will find these tips valuable. Thank you for sharing.
I wear contacts and these tips are really beneficial.
Great info I didnt think about before! Now I dont have to keep up with glasses all the time.
Great tips but I’d prefer just taking my glasses (and a spare) instead of daily, disposable lenses. First of, the unnecessary waste in disposing them, lack of clean water for hygiene purposes. One thing using sanitizer after a #2 cos no water (ugh), another thing using those same hands to change lenses if say, dirt gets in them.
A very informative and useful writeup. I wear glasses, but have friends who wear contacts and do quite a bit of traveling. Will share the post with them.
I wore contact lens for ages before I finally got laser surgery for my eyes. Changing contact lens in the outdoors was always a risky thing. Good to use disposable ones and take extra with you. Taking your glasses and sunglasses to wear over glasses was always something that worked for me.
Oof, I can only imagine how difficult it must be to wear contact lenses and go camping as often as you do! My partner wears glasses and getting a tiny speck on them ruins his entire day, so wearing lenses must be a million times worse. We’ll have to keep things like this in mind for when we start travelling, as home is never far away so he can always clean his glasses, but it’ll be a different story when we’re travelling.
I’ve never even thought about how important things like this would be for those with contact lens. I definitely see how camping could be a challenge.
I am lucky to not need contacts or glasses for my eyesight, but I can absolutely get behind keeping your hands clean around your eyes. Rubbing your eyes with fire ash on your hands is the absolute worst. I religiously use Rohto (OTC eye drops) because I find them to be the best. Yes, it may feel like it burns a little at first, but I promise in a minute it will feel so good!
It can be a pain in the bum when camping for me. Most of the time I wear glasses but when I am outdoors either camping, hiking, running, I use contact lenses. But when it comes to do a 3-4 day hiking/camping trip, I find it very difficult sometimes to keep hands clean for when I have to sort out my eyes. If there is a campsite with facilities then it is not a problem but if its really out in the woods or mountains, this can be a problem for me. I have to admit, I dont moisturise my eyes enough so really should get into the habit of doing this more often.