[at-l] Glasses or contacts

[astrogirl at aol.com (Nicole Markee)]

I have very bad eyesight, -7.25 + a little astigmatism.  I wear 
contacts and carry glasses.  If I lost a contact, I could wear 
something over one eye and manage OK, but if I couldn't wear them at 
*all*, I'd be in very deep water indeed without my glasses.

I used to sleep with them in when hiking, but that rapidly became 
uncomfortable and I stopped doing it.  Shortly thereafter, the eye docs 
started saying you should never do that.  When I was in high school, I 
accidently fell asleep with hard lenses in and scratched a cornea.  
That is *very very* painful and you do not want it to happen to you, 
believe me.  Chances are much lower with soft lenses, but it's still 
possible if your eyes get dry enough.

I've never had an eye infection, and I've been wearing contact lenses 
since I was 12.  I'm reasonably careful to clean my hands before I 
handle them, but that's about it.  I use a little visine bottle that I 
refill with saline, and it lasts me about a week, but I have to be 
pretty tight with it.  I'd just carry another if I was farther between 
resupplies.  When I was out on the trail for two months, I wore a 
different kind of lens, but with my current ones, I'd put fizzies (and 
a big bottle of saline and a spare little visine bottle probably) in my 
bounce box to keep the lenses as clear as possible.

-Nicole



On Mar 28, 2005, at 22:27, Matt Case wrote:

> Can I get some feedback on hikers choice for glasses or contacts on the
> trail? I have both, but wondering if there is an advantage of one or 
> the
> other on the trail. Those who take contacts, do they usually just 
> sleep with
> them in?
>
> Thanks
>
> Matt Case
>
>
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