Swimming + glasses

Contacts and goggles here too. I simply keep a spare pair in my gym bag just in case. Been doing this for over 20 years through competitive swim, 10+ years as a lifeguard and swim/water aerobics instructor, and fitness swimming.
Mine are basic Speedo but I also like TYR

Prescription goggles, I cannot imagine swimming without them. Mine are just normal speedo goggles, just with correction lenses. As long as you do not want to really fine tune the correction, they come in about 0.5 steps and are cheap, so replacing them every couple of years is not an issue.

deannalfisher wrote: »

could you do contacts and normal swim goggles?

This is what I do as well.

I get it! I'm very nearsighted also. Seeing the line on the bottom of the pool without lenses is laughable. And I have never been able to get a good, comfortable seal on goggles (been told the shape of my face is the reason why). So my contacts float away or fold over. *sigh* I eventually gave up on pool activity, so kudos on sticking with it. My thoughts on a solution are this: 1 - What you've been doing, wearing glasses. I did this too, exactly the same way you're doing. I used an older pair of frames and a rubber sport strap to make sure they stayed on. 2 - leave the glasses in my shoes on the side of the pool, taking a little risk, but if they're plain prescription glasses, someone is unlikely to take them, and learn to swim blind (which I have also done). Finally, 3 - It sounds like there are some great prescription goggles out there. I feel ya on the curvature issue. When your prescription gets bad enough, that happens the bigger the lenses are...even my sunglasses have that issue, despite being the "extra thin" material. I'm THAT nearsighted. ;-) But if I wanted to swim again, I'd probably try it out.
Good luck!

BigAnnieG wrote: »

I LOVE swimming... but am also ridiculously short sighted. This means I swim with my glasses on, as contacts and chlorine are a bad mix, and prescription goggles are foggy/a pain (either entrust glasses to side of a busy pool for the ol' switcharoo or walk around entire changing area with a curved perspective on the world...!). Does anyone else have this, and what's the best way to deal with it? I swim breaststroke but keep my head above water, though my neck as in line as possible without submerging my head, and manage a good forty minutes before an ache sets in. My pace is pretty quick, thanks to having paddles for feet, but I just wonder if there is a better way to manage semi blindness and swimming. Going without lenses is out of the question as I literally can't see my own feet without them!

You can get prescription glasses which don't get foggy. Yes they are available and I got mine at GogglesNmore . It helps me swim and look at things plus the yellow tint i got for myself helps me with the indoor lighting in the pool. Hope this helps.

MissMaggieMuffin wrote: »

MonkeyMel21 wrote: »

I have worn contacts with regular goggles, it was fine, but my eye doctor told me it's not a great idea. I went on amazon and bought a pair of prescription TYR's for $20 and it was one of the best fitness investments I've made. I swim several different strokes so not wearing goggles is impossible.

@MonkeyMel21 Curious about why your eye doctor didn't like that combination?

I was told by my eye doctor that swimming with lenses in is a bad idea, even with goggles, because at some point there is usually some leakage. The issue is that swimming pool water can hang around the eye longer than usual if you have lenses in and that is really not good. There's a risk of some hideous fungus or something. That said, I wear daily disposable lenses. He said if I was prepared to discard the lenses immediately after the swim it was OK to use them for the swim (even without goggles if the swim was not going on for hours) and advised me to rinse eyes with saline or comfort drops immediately after removing the lenses.

kshama2001 wrote: »

I've been wearing prescription dive mask/googles for decades. I prevent fog the way I learned when I learned how to dive - spit in them, rub the spit around, rinse quickly.

If anyone has tried both spit and the anti-fog spray, how do they compare? My dive instructor mentioned the spray, but he was a spitter, and consequently the class was as well.

I used to spit, but now use anti-fog spray. I think the spray works better.