Contact lenses are cool, hip and can pleasantly accentuate your personality and the way you dress and whatnot. But perhaps the greatest advantage of wearing contact lenses is that you can ditch your glasses. People are more comfortable wearing contacts as they are convenient and easy to manage. Celebrities wear them all the time and it really isn’t a big deal. However, it is important to understand that there are times when wearing contact lenses can be unsafe and even downright dangerous.
There are plenty of risks associated with wearing contacts. For example, wearing them at a BBQ party where there is smoke and heat can damage your contact and in turn, your eyes. Similarly, wearing contact lenses while swimming is a BIG no-no. There are so many things that can go wrong. In light of this, mentioned below are some potential risk you are vulnerable to if you wear contacts while swimming:
Top 4 Risks of Wearing Contact Lenses While Swimming
1. Risk of Viruses:
Any pool of water, whether it is a pond, a lake, a swimming pool, or even a river, can house dangerous viruses that cause irritation in the eyes. Contacts prolong the effect they have on your eyes as they can get inside the lenses and cause further damage for a long period of time. This can lead to constant irritation, and will also cause you to rub your eyes repeatedly, which will in turn lead to bloodshot red eyes and retinal damage. Your eyes may even painfully swell and can hurt for a long period of time.
2. Risk of Infection:
You open yourself to bacterial infection in the eyes. No matter where you swim, it is hard to steer clear of bacteria. Sure, you might say chlorine can help minimize this threat, but the chemical can also cause a lot of damage if you wear your contacts in a swimming pool. Bacteria can easily get trapped in the protective coating of the lenses from swimming underwater. This coating directly comes in contact with the white part of your eyeballs and leads to infection. The infection can be severe if not treated properly and has a high probability of causing temporary blindness.
3. Extreme Burning Sensation:
This is a comparison of how painful it is if you wear contact lenses underwater. Imagine if someone were to put hot chilli peppers into your eyeballs and you were to remain in that condition till you reached the doctor. No amount of adding water could help and all you could do is succumb to the excruciating pain. Sea water is worse because of the high concentration of salt in it, which can be even more painful. The same goes with chlorinated water.
4. Unusual Sensitivity to Light:
Your eyes can forever become sensitive to all the light in a room. It will not only hurt your eyes to adjust, but it will also take longer, which means a prolonged pain.
