Contacts/Glasses on Trail

[goldielocks]

I am an avid contact user. I LOVE my contacts. I have an older pair of glasses that I use as necessary.
Are you planning to wear your contacts? What precautions will you be taking?
If you have completed a thru hike in the past - what was your method?

[cliffordbarnabus]

i leave my daily contacts in for llllooonnngggg periods of time. months, even. i put the storage cleaning solution in my eyes and close them for about 10 seconds. no problems. i only take them out if they feel like they need to be taken out.

[Hikingjim]

I generally use disposables and glasses when I don't need contacts. Never had an issue with this in a few hundred nights of use
Just did some hiking in colorado and my glasses didn't fog or cause issue once in this dry environment. So I didn't bother with contacts
But in the east I find my glasses are useless when it's humid (I fog them up right away), so I use disposables frequently

[Engine]

I don't wear contacts, but my wife does. She got a severe eye infection while hiking once and the doc said it was from unsanitary conditions when she was removing or replacing them. It's very hard to keep everything sanitary when you are out there for days on end. Now she wears glasses when hiking...

[RebeccaS]

Like you, I can't stand the feel of glasses so I wear daily contacts when I'm hiking. I carry a small dropper bottle of Dr. Bronner's and wash my hands thoroughly (away from the water source) before touching my eyes at night or morning. On my longer section hikes I carry a weeks worth of contacts and mail drop extra pairs since I ship food to myself anyway. I do carry an old pair of glasses in case I run out or a mail drop gets lost, or I need to get up in the middle of the night.

[DuneElliot]

I can't hike in glasses. I sweat and they constantly slide down my nose and get in the way. I'm just careful about keeping my hands clean before I put my contacts in in the morning, and I make sure there is fresh solution every night which I don't always do at home. I also carry a spare set, just in case. I'd love to have Lasik done, but my corneas are too thing :-(

A little bottle of soap and water or hand sanitizer and you should be good to go, and you should be carrying these any way. I carry a small travel-sized bottle of solution, but generally keep it half full for my short trips. If you're worried about it you could see if you could get the extended wear contacts and only take them out and clean them in towns.

[Sandy of PA]

My buddy just had to give up his hike 118 miles from Katahdin due to a severe eye infection from his contacts. I hike in glasses, it is too big of a risk when sanitation is difficult.

[JC13]

On our section, I wore extended wear contacts. For a thru, I would do the same thing and change them out/clean them on Nero/zero days. I did bring glasses for just in case.

[Hikingjim]

I do not find contact sanitation to be difficult. But it requires careful attention, knowing the risk
I found disposables are easier to keep clean, but you could go another route. Basically all you need to do is spend a couple minutes making sure your hands are perfectly clean... or at least one hand and the finger you'll put the contacts in with!
If I sleep where there's no water source or the water is dirty... in the morning I will just use my glasses until I find something suitable.

I do not recommend using sanitizer, because little particles will ruin your process in many cases. You need to thoroughly scrub with water and a small amount of soap.

Cell phone in selfie-mode for a mirror or another small mirror is fine

[Hikes in Rain]

I wear contact all the time, so why not hiking? As stated, wash your hands! I use a basin I made from the bottom half of a gallon jug. Almost weightless, and my cook kit fits inside as though it were made for it Bit of Ivory soap, and you're good to go.

DuneElliot, you mentioned hand sanitizer . I tried it and found I couldn't rinse it off enough not to burn my eyes. How are you doing it; what did I miss?

[DuneElliot]

I wear contact all the time, so why not hiking? As stated, wash your hands! I use a basin I made from the bottom half of a gallon jug. Almost weightless, and my cook kit fits inside as though it were made for it Bit of Ivory soap, and you're good to go.

DuneElliot, you mentioned hand sanitizer . I tried it and found I couldn't rinse it off enough not to burn my eyes. How are you doing it; what did I miss?

I really only use hand sanitizer after using the bathroom, so not right before I mess with my contacts. I keep my hands well rinsed off the rest of the time and right before I take my contacts out or put them in. I've never carried soap.

[Hikes in Rain]

That'd be the difference. I use hand sanitizer the same way. i use soap because my skin is so dang oily I could solve the energy crisis if they could only harvest it! Doesn't take much soap, but it does take a little.

[theotherbrady]

I have definitely burned my eyes with hand sanitizer putting in contacts too soon after using it. Anyone have a recommendation for a style/type of glasses that work well?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Hikingjim]

I have definitely burned my eyes with hand sanitizer putting in contacts too soon after using it. Anyone have a recommendation for a style/type of glasses that work well?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If you have fogging issues, you can look into getting glasses with anti-fog coating (they exist, but not that common) or there are ways to put a coating on your own glasses. I used some anti-fog spray years back before I started wearing contacts. The one I used wasn't perfect, but made things much better

[MisterQ]

I always make sure to switch to glasses before it gets dark to avoid the hassle of trying to take out and treat the contacts via headlamp. And yes clean hands are key.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[One Half]

And ^^this^^ is why I had LASIK years ago. (all of the above)