Swimming with prescription glasses?

umer76
umer76 Posts: 1,272 Member
Hi guys, I want to try swimming but there is one issue. I wear prescription glasses and for swimming I cannot remove them. What are the options I have got? I don't think I can wear swimming goggles on top of my glasses. If somebody wears glasses and also do swimming please advise. Thanks.

Replies

  • avaughn34
    avaughn34 Posts: 8 Member
    You might be able to order prescription goggles?
  • GGDaddy
    GGDaddy Posts: 289 Member
    Might try asking the swimmers forum?

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/139-swimmers-
  • michael1976_ca
    michael1976_ca Posts: 3,488 Member
    You might be able to order prescription goggles?

    this i saw it in an triathlon magazine
  • Jennloella
    Jennloella Posts: 2,286 Member
    yes you can buy prescription swim goggles, my nephew has some. Are contacts out of the question? Ask your eye Dr, they can probably get them for you.
  • Salty_Sauce
    Salty_Sauce Posts: 1,329 Member
    What do you need to focus so clearly on while you're swimming?
  • debants
    debants Posts: 38 Member
    Just wear your prescription glasses I've been wearing them for years wether I swim in the pool or ocean - where my presciption sun glasses as well - you'll get use the waterdrops on your lenses!
  • wonkosane
    wonkosane Posts: 42 Member
    Hi guys, I want to try swimming but there is one issue. I wear prescription glasses and for swimming I cannot remove them. What are the options I have got? I don't think I can wear swimming goggles on top of my glasses. If somebody wears glasses and also do swimming please advise. Thanks.

    I ordered my prescription goggles through amazon, for 15 bucks or so. You just need to know what diopter to order, which your optometrist can tell you.
  • ksuh999
    ksuh999 Posts: 543 Member
    What do you need to focus so clearly on while you're swimming?
    Chicks in bikinis?

    But seriously, I'm like totally blind without some form of eye correction, I feel way more confident in water when I can see more than two feet in front.
  • aelphabawest
    aelphabawest Posts: 173 Member
    I'm blind as a bat (can't see more than six inches in front of my face other than blurry colors), and I just swim without the glasses. If you're doing laps, you have lanes to follow which are physical reminders that you don't even need to see. It takes getting used to, but it's doable.

    If you must, you can get contacts and wear goggles with them. But for the most part, you don't really need to see to do laps anyway. (The prescription goggles everyone keeps talking about cheaply on the internet wouldn't work for me - I have pretty severe astigmatism and my left eye has to be custom made - the online order stuff never works for my eyes. But everyone's eyes are different.)
  • MissKriss3
    MissKriss3 Posts: 117 Member
    I wear mine swimming
  • Hestion
    Hestion Posts: 740 Member
    You can get goggles, i leave my contacts in which you shouldn't really. Can get away with it if you don't need to put your face in. Or i just swim without them, can't see clearly, but as long as i can see to walk (short sighted) it really doesn't matter when you're in the water, its all blurry anyway!
  • gwannn
    gwannn Posts: 1 Member
    If you know your prescription you can order a pair here for $30 + shipping. http://www.clearlycontacts.ca/prescription-swimming-goggles
    The fit on them isnt quite 100% comfy like with a name-brand pair but I take it as a trade off for being able to see at the pool
  • hookilau
    hookilau Posts: 3,134 Member
    My 17 yr old wears Rx glasses & is a competitive swimmer. He has astigmatism & we bought Rx lenses for his swim goggles but he never uses them :grumble: He says he sees better underwater without glasses :sick:

    We also bought a pair for him for wrestling but again, he never wore them, just squinted & grabbed at anything that came within striking distance. It was quite funny to watch & he got very good at sensing stuff rather than relying on his eyes.

    By the way, his glasses are pretty thick :ohwell:
  • hookilau
    hookilau Posts: 3,134 Member
    I'm blind as a bat (can't see more than six inches in front of my face other than blurry colors), and I just swim without the glasses. If you're doing laps, you have lanes to follow which are physical reminders that you don't even need to see. It takes getting used to, but it's doable.

    Now that you mention it, I never relied on what I could see while doing laps. I counted strokes & used other markers to keep track of where I was in the pool. Turned out to be a non issue for me.
  • anaconda469
    anaconda469 Posts: 3,479 Member
    I swim with mine on and don't bother to cover them. I have metal frames and it has not hurt them. But thats just me.
  • Briargrey
    Briargrey Posts: 498 Member
    I' ve got, what in the old days, would be termed 20/800 or thereabouts vision (near-sighted). I swam competitively for 10 years without using prescription goggles, I just used the lanes to guide me. However, they do make prescription ones, and I have used prescription diving goggles for snorkeling and loved that. I figure if I ever took up swimming again, I'd probably get prescription swim goggles. I wouldn't recommend wearing contacts with goggles unless you're super careful. I tried that, but my goggles always would leak slightly from time to time and threaten to fill up and wash the contact out of my eye. Happened once but I managed to retrieve the lens before it escaped into the pool at large.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    What do you need to focus so clearly on while you're swimming?

    That's a fine question right there. Considering, it's quite nice to swim laps with your eyes closed.
  • jeepyj93
    jeepyj93 Posts: 392 Member
    I have swam with my contacts in with goggles, but I do know you can order goggles with a prescription. My BIL
    wore his snorkelling, not sure where he got them but they are out there.
  • umer76
    umer76 Posts: 1,272 Member
    What do you need to focus so clearly on while you're swimming?

    That's a fine question right there. Considering, it's quite nice to swim laps with your eyes closed.
    I am a new swimmer and want to be aware of my surroundings. I am not trying to focus on the people around me:wink: It is just I am not used to see without my glasses and it gives an odd feeling.
  • SteveStedge1
    SteveStedge1 Posts: 149 Member
    What do you need to focus so clearly on while you're swimming?

    So...would you ask a guy in a wheelchair what he need to walk for? Those of us with poor vision cannot function without corrective lenses.

    Back on topic...walmart opticals often you can get complete rx goggles for less than 100 bux.Quick google search yeilds SPEEDO brand rx goggles for 20 bux without lenses.
  • umer76
    umer76 Posts: 1,272 Member
    If you know your prescription you can order a pair here for $30 + shipping. http://www.clearlycontacts.ca/prescription-swimming-goggles
    The fit on them isnt quite 100% comfy like with a name-brand pair but I take it as a trade off for being able to see at the pool

    Thanks for the link. That does not look like a bad option and good power range is available. Price is also very reasonable.
  • laurenellenmarie
    laurenellenmarie Posts: 331 Member
    Swimmer all my life! I was going to suggest prescription pair. I did know a lot of people that wore their contacts under the goggles too. There are options for you!
  • alathIN
    alathIN Posts: 142 Member
    I used to wear contacts every time I went to the pool, until I got a pair of these:

    http://www.amazon.com/Speedo-Vanquisher-Optical-Goggle-Smoke/dp/B001HBHVXU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383952329&sr=8-1&keywords=speedo+vanquisher+optical+goggle

    They are not at all expensive, and much better than dealing with the hassle of contacts every time you want to swim, or not being able to see the lane clock.

    You will need to find out what your eyeglass prescription is if you don't know it already. The number you need is the diopter. It should be a number in the format of minus something-point-something, like -2.15 for example. There will be a separate prescription for the right and left eye.

    My prescription is -3.25 for one eye and my 2.75 for the other. Splitting the difference and getting -3.0 works fine for me; I can't really tell the difference between these and my regular glasses. If you have a very extreme difference between your right and left eye, you can order two pairs of goggles and combine them (the goggles are made with a separate left and right goggle, connected by a removable bridge piece. There are three different sizes of bridge piece that come with the goggles to fit your face).

    This is not an expensive experiment to try. It worked great for me.
  • Lozze
    Lozze Posts: 1,917 Member
    [
    So...would you ask a guy in a wheelchair what he need to walk for? Those of us with poor vision cannot function without corrective lenses.

    As someone who's legally blind, I had the same question. There's no need to be able to see when swimming. I go in the ocean with no glasses all the time. In a pool, no need for vision.