Managing Contact Lenses in the Backcountry?

[Choada_Boy]

Any advice? More trouble than it's worth? Should I just stick with glasses?

[mmeyers]

daily disposable lenses.

 

even easier, there are some silicone hydrogel lenses that can be worn at night. That's what I use. i've used them for 5 days straight. I only bring a back up pair, and I use eyedrops before I sleep and when I wake up.

Edited July 20, 2012 by mmeyers

[Water]

well my wife uses monthly contacts but is judicious enough that she gets a few months out of them.

 

Anyways she normally fills a few of the contact cases with fluid before a weekend-3 day trip. On longer she brings a small bottle of solution. Getting bottles in the small size can be a pain but if you look around online you can find dropper-bottles in all sizes you want. Then again she also brings her glasses too. Not exactly saving weight.

 

I think it depends on your personal preferences and activities as well. prescription goggles or glacier glasses cost an arm and a leg.

[Seamstress]

I have used hard lenses, soft lenses of all types and varieties in the back country for decades. Keep in mind that your depth perception may be thrown off by switching between contacts and glasses. There is great benefit in wearing what you always wear.

 

Small bottles are great. A spare set is a good idea. Keeping the lenses on your body, especially at night, is key to keeping them from freezing and being able to find them quickly. I generally use the clear care system at home, but that won't work with the irregular schedule of backcountry climbing. I use a different all purpose solution for the back country. Try the solution you are going to use before you go away. Whenever you change solutions, your eyes may not like it and tear. Best to try that before.

 

I keep the small bottles in my travel kit. They are small enough for the plane, small enough to take backpacking, and will last three weeks of daily use. Perfect.

[Crillz]

daily disposable lenses.

 

even easier, there are some silicone hydrogel lenses that can be worn at night. That's what I use. i've used them for 5 days straight. I only bring a back up pair, and I use eyedrops before I sleep and when I wake up.

 

I use Accuvue Oasis Hydroclear. They are a two week disposable, if you take them out daily. You can wear them straight for a week without taking them out. The eye doc will give you a free set to try out. On climbing trips, I just never take out my contact lenses and use the re-wetting drops in the morning if I need to.

[Seamstress]

Try in advance. My eyes won't tolerate that.

[OlympicMtnBoy]

When I still wore contacts I couldn't wear them overnight and they weren't disposable, but I still preferred them to glasses in the backcountry because I used to have huge steaming issues, rain on them, etc. I just found a small ~1oz bottle for multi-purpose solution and pre-filled the lens case. If you are new to contacts it also helps to practice so you don't need a mirror to put them in. Also make sure you wash your hands in the morning and around your eyes or you'll get sunscreen/bugspray/campfire smoke in your eyes and it sucks. It works though.

 

Of course after 10 years of full time contact usage my eyes stopped tolerating them so I'm back to glasses, but newer smaller thinner and lighter glasses help too.

[Choada_Boy]

Thanks for all the info, folks. Any of you buying contacts online?

[ivan]

i couldn't make glasses or contacts work w/ the outdoor lifestyle and after countless years of tears, finally contracted w/ a nice socialist surgeon to cut open my glazballs and shine a real bright light in there to make'em right

[Buckaroo]

there was a thread on this a while back

 

I wear Air Optics Night & Day (America's Best Contacts and Eyeglasses)

 

they are supposed to be used for a month straight without removal and then thrown away

 

I use them like daily wears and take them out at night, or every other night. They last up to a year if you take them out at night and are a lot cheaper than daily wears. But when I'm climbing I leave them in overnight for up to a couple weeks with no problem. But different people react differently so try this at home before you do it on a climb.

 

I carry extras when climbing but just for if one falls out. The only time I've ever lost a contact was on Half Dome and a dry wind deflected off my sunglasses and dried them out so quick one fell out and blew away.

 

they were nice when my arm was in a cast and I couldn't get my hand up to my eye to deal with them

 

I got lucky a couple of exams ago and both eyes are the same so I don't have to worry about right and left. Since then I told the doc just split the difference if my eyes are a little different and give me the same script for each eye.

[xhen]

i couldn't make glasses or contacts work w/ the outdoor lifestyle and after countless years of tears, finally contracted w/ a nice socialist surgeon to cut open my glazballs and shine a real bright light in there to make'em right

 

Any issues with this in the backcountry/altitute/whenever? I'm a corrective lens wearer, and for years would wear my contacts (Now the Acuve Oasys) multiple days. Few years ago found I just can't do it anymore. After a night, one of my eyes just starts to feel grainy and hurt. So now I just carry case, small solution, and glasses (back at camp).

 

But, I dream of Lasik every day. Someday.

[ivan]

i couldn't make glasses or contacts work w/ the outdoor lifestyle and after countless years of tears, finally contracted w/ a nice socialist surgeon to cut open my glazballs and shine a real bright light in there to make'em right

 

Any issues with this in the backcountry/altitute/whenever? I'm a corrective lens wearer, and for years would wear my contacts (Now the Acuve Oasys) multiple days. Few years ago found I just can't do it anymore. After a night, one of my eyes just starts to feel grainy and hurt. So now I just carry case, small solution, and glasses (back at camp).

 

But, I dream of Lasik every day. Someday.

no problems - every few years i have a dream where i'm like the untermensch again but other than that it's a total life-changer

[111]

Cleacn fingers clean fingers clean fingers! I make a point to be anal retentive about getting all the daily grime off my fingers with soap and water before taking them out. I remove them every night regardless, and have had no major issues. a hotel shampoo bottle, emptied out, and refilled with a soap/water mix is a handy, small thing to bring along as a cleaner for the fingers.