View Full Version : Contact Lens Problem
Just thought I'd pass this on.
Had a great weekend diving Europes deepest swimming pool in
Brussels (35m!) and one of our group had a rather nasty problem.
She wears contacts under water and in this instance looks like she
had a small air pocket between lens and eye. As a result she has a
red nasty bruise on the eyeball and is off diving for 3 weeks.
Moral? Dont skimp and get a prescription mask.
TerryH
Just thought I'd pass this on.
Had a great weekend diving Europes deepest swimming pool in
Brussels (35m!) and one of our group had a rather nasty problem.
She wears contacts under water and in this instance looks like she
had a small air pocket between lens and eye. As a result she has a
red nasty bruise on the eyeball and is off diving for 3 weeks.
Moral? Dont skimp and get a prescription mask.
TerryH
I'm guessing this problem occurred with hard lenses (as opposed to the gas permeable ones)?
Could it have been caused by mask squeeze?
I have worn lenses since I was 11 and for all my diving life and have NEVER had any problem.
I'd be grateful if you would check with your lady diver ref "hard or soft" lenses.
Tks
Bryan
Paul Oliver
10-05-2006, 18:06
Same here, always worn soft lenses while diving.
Although in some of our Dover viz thats been a bit pointless :)
Soft lenses, guys.
Johnson and johnson acuvue dailies
check out the pic and def not mask squeeze.
Tel.
Tony Dwyer
10-05-2006, 19:30
Soft lenses, guys.
Johnson and johnson acuvue dailies
check out the pic and def not mask squeeze.
Tel.
Nasty.
My soft lenses just about cover my iris. That damage appears to be to the white of the eye. I would have thought it unlikely that such a lense could cause that amount of damage.
Do the lenses cover more of the eye than mine?
I would have thought that mask squeeze or a vein rupture caused by some other agency is more likely. I've seen similar injuries in people not using lenses.
Nope the original bruise or red blotch was closer to the iris. It has moved
and got bigger. The pic was taken today and the 1st dive that caused it
was Saturday lunchtime. So we are 4 + days from the dive.
T.
Soft lenses, guys.
Johnson and johnson acuvue dailies
I don't see how that's possible. Soft lenses just aren't stuck to the eye firmly enough to allow pressure to build up; any expanding bubble would just lift the lens.
check out the pic
My eyes have looked like that on a couple of occasions. It's always been an infection...
Vic.
The bubbles wern't expanding on the way down...
Andy Wade
10-05-2006, 21:10
I don't see how that's possible. Soft lenses just aren't stuck to the eye firmly enough to allow pressure to build up; any expanding bubble would just lift the lens.
My eyes have looked like that on a couple of occasions. It's always been an infection...
Vic.
Or beer....
Andy Wade
10-05-2006, 21:12
The bubbles wern't expanding on the way down...
So we're looking at compression rather than any decompression effect, it does sound like a mask squeeze or similar injury.
Time for a Diving Doc to step in here?
Nice blue eyes though..... :D
So we're looking at compression rather than any decompression effect, it does sound like a mask squeeze or similar injury.
Time for a Diving Doc to step in here?
Nice blue eyes though..... :D
Think that will be a lens squeeze then :-)
Seeing (no pun intended) the reciprient of said bruise is a nurse and has had
it professionally checked out (by an eye doc), I'm rather inclined to go with
the professionals on this one.
T.
Andy Wade
10-05-2006, 22:38
Think that will be a lens squeeze then :-)
Seeing (no pun intended) the reciprient of said bruise is a nurse and has had
it professionally checked out (by an eye doc), I'm rather inclined to go with
the professionals on this one.
T.
So just to recap, she's a nurse, who dives and has nice blue eyes....
Where's your branch again? ;)
OK I'll get my coat...:D
Hope it gets well soon.
The bubbles wern't expanding on the way down...
...In which case it would be nothing to do with any pocket of air between lens and eye.
Vic.
Or beer....
:-)
...But in the beer case, it generally goes away within a week (unless it's a "secondary" beer effect - i.e. someone's given me a slap...)
Vic.
:-)
...But in the beer case, it generally goes away within a week (unless it's a "secondary" beer effect - i.e. someone's given me a slap...)
Vic.
Well having had the "slap" where after a night of heavy tequilla drinking and
some violent movements, both whites of my eyes went red, this was my
first question. The awnser was no and has definately been attributed to the
lens, no question.
T.
Paul Oliver
11-05-2006, 03:33
Hmm I have had a red blotch like that once, and it was a couple of days after a dive, but i cannot remember any discomfort during the dive.
David Walker
11-05-2006, 06:12
So just to recap, she's a nurse, who dives and has nice blue eyes....
Hope it gets well soon.
Ahhh, one minute you're all nice to her, and then the next you're calling her an "it" :eek: How cruel ;) :rolleyes:
:D
David
Andy Wade
11-05-2006, 10:42
Hmm I have had a red blotch like that once, and it was a couple of days after a dive, but i cannot remember any discomfort during the dive.
I've had one, but completely unrelated to any diving, I had a lens that wouldn't come out very easily (it seemed to be stuck to my eye) and I did manage to get it out, but a couple of days later the red blotch appeared, and it lasted a day or so before disappearing.
I wondered at the time if it was because I had been prodding around trying to get the lens out, or if it was a slight infection from the same cause, dirty fingers and all that. Yes of course I do wash my hands, but prodding around could be likely to cause problems no matter how clean they are.
Hmmm, I've never had one in years and years of diving so it can't be the lens :) ...... or, at least, jest the lens?
I guess that if the lens were not properly fitted so that an air pocket existed ........... I think I'll do some more investigating.
I can only suggest that the lady in question was slow with her mask equalisation? Surely a bubble of air under a lens would be subject to the pressure inside the mask and not outside.
I am certainly going to check with my optician. I'm ugly enough without adding red eyes to the equation.
John Williams
11-05-2006, 13:19
Think that will be a lens squeeze then :-)
Seeing (no pun intended) the reciprient of said bruise is a nurse and has had
it professionally checked out (by an eye doc), I'm rather inclined to go with
the professionals on this one.
T.
And that will be why we don't use non-diving doctors to diagnose diving problems then!
Sorry Terry - but I really cannot see how contact lenses can be implicated in a pressure injury.
If they had an air pocket under them...they are bloody uncomfortable and vision is impaired - so the lady would not have continued the dive before sorting that out!
Even if an air pocket got trapped under them during the dive - that just proves that there is no seal...any expansion of air would have lifted the lens, or just bubble out of the edge...with no more discomfort than occurs every time lenses are put in and any air trapped is expelled from under them by blinking.
Any compression of a trapped bubble - would have reduced the problem (if blinking had not cured it anyway!)
What you are seeing/hearing here is a doctor with no experience of hyperbaric medicine just picking any old unknown to attribute the problem to.
..which is why we don't use doctors with no hyperbaric experience to conduct hyperbaric medicals any more!
If you want a definitive answer (and yours MAY be right...but, as an explanation, it just does not add up!) - ask a diving doctor/diving medical referee!
John
Who has worn hard, soft, gas permeable, daily and now monthly lenses throughout 20 years of diving and diving instruction in fresh, not so fresh, pool, brackish, sea and hypersaline water in all temperature ranges from 30*c to under thick ice at sea (where I refused to look at any temp guages!)...and never had a problem that was not caused by physical irritation (sand/fingers) or infection (from mucky fingers!)
I am certainly going to check with my optician. I'm ugly enough without adding red eyes to the equation.
My optician told me that daily disposibles were ideal for diving.
He was less than impressed at my diving in continuous-wear lenses, though...
Vic.
My optician told me that daily disposibles were ideal for diving.
He was less than impressed at my diving in continuous-wear lenses, though...
Vic.
Vic,
I tried the continuous wear lenses to begin with but, because of litigation threats in the USA, J&J started recommending removing the lenses at night. Although this denied me that weird feeling of waking up and being able to see my eyes felt a LOT better after a few days.
Mine are 14 day lenses which I take out each night.
Bryan
I just spoke to my optician and he has not heard of any such concern with soft lenses and diving. He is going to check further to see if there is any industry information available.
He did say the biggest selling point for soft lenses is for sporting activities and ........
He also said that the blood vessels near the eye's surface are very delicate and easy to damage and a small haemorrhage would produce a very nasty looking mark. So, that sort of injury could be caused by rubbing your eye or ......
Girls would be more prone to the eye rubbing incident if it was an early morning dive as, unlike us blokes, they don't have any b*ll*cks to scratch! :):) You can't beat the "good old jokes" :).
I found the below info after searching on Google. I have no idea if it is of any value. Any lens wearer will know if there lenses are dry after a dive. From my own experience the nudging of a dry lens to "get it moving" would be a likely culprit for the injury?
http://www.allaboutvision.com/askdoc/contact-lenses.htm
Q: Can I wear disposable contacts (http://www.allaboutvision.com/askdoc/contact-lenses.htm#) while SCUBA diving? I've done it and have had no difficulty. — J.C., Guatemala
A: Sure, contact lenses are great for SCUBA diving. They can get a little tight while down under, so it might help to put some lubricating drops in your eyes before and after your dives. Enjoy! — Dr. Dubow
http://www.allaboutvision.com/sp.gif
I tried the continuous wear lenses to begin with but, because of litigation threats in the USA, J&J started recommending removing the lenses at night.
Not all extended-wear lenses are alike! I wear the Focus ones, and I think they're marvelous.
Although this denied me that weird feeling of waking up and being able to see my eyes felt a LOT better after a few days.
My eyes have felt fine all the time I've been wearing these. The only wierdness is once a month, when I wake up blind[1]...
Mine are 14 day lenses which I take out each night.
Mine are 30-day lenses which go in and stay in :-)
Vic.
[1] Gets me every time. I try to change lenses at the weekend, so invariably, I've had a skinful the night I take my lenses out. I wake up the following morning convinced I've *really* over-done it this time...
Not all extended-wear lenses are alike! I wear the Focus ones, and I think they're marvelous.
My eyes have felt fine all the time I've been wearing these. The only wierdness is once a month, when I wake up blind[1]...
Mine are 30-day lenses which go in and stay in :-)
Vic.
[1] Gets me every time. I try to change lenses at the weekend, so invariably, I've had a skinful the night I take my lenses out. I wake up the following morning convinced I've *really* over-done it this time...
When I first tried the continuous wear lenses my eyes felt "wrong" when I wasn't wearing lenses - for a few days until they had recovered :). I was taken off them because the optician had seen a deterioration in the condition of my eyes over 6 months. My lenses were the Acuvue ones.
I like it when lens change day coincides with being drunk - no need to worry about solutions and ....... :)
Paul Oliver
11-05-2006, 17:49
I like it when lens change day coincides with being drunk - no need to worry about solutions and ....... :)
What more reason for a few beers than to celebrate Lens change day :) Hurrah :)
And that will be why we don't use non-diving doctors to diagnose diving problems then!
Which kinda makes the assumption the doc in question here, knows nothing
about diving?
Sorry Terry - but I really cannot see how contact lenses can be implicated in a pressure injury.
Sorry John, really cant be ar*ed to argue. She has an injury that has been
diagnosed as pressure/diving related - fact.
If you disagree with that diagnosis or who made it, thats up to you. It's not
gonna change the size of the bruise or the circumstances.
For the record it was 45min, 30 degrees, 35m and we drove home (no
flying).
T.
Andy Wade
11-05-2006, 23:15
What more reason for a few beers than to celebrate Lens change day :) Hurrah :)
Brings a whole new meaning to the term 'blind drunk'.
I'll get my coat :D
I use Acuvue lenses and the only problems I've had are bubbles between the eye and lens after diving. Ususally a sign I've pushed it to close to the deco limit. Clears after about 20-25 minutes.
Edward
I don't get it but if that's what happened, still so far my lens have been fine and I don't think of it as a cheap option over a pescription mask, it is nice just tohave the same vision with and without mask.
John Williams
12-05-2006, 11:43
Sorry John, really cant be ar*ed to argue. T.
Which I recognise as TerryH code for "OK...you may be right and I have nowhere to go in this arguement!"
Fair enough!
I would have been interested in the diagnostians diving credentials though?
(Although I suspect that your "coded answer" reflects the facts there too!)
...otherwise you'd have introduced the eye specialist as one with experience in diving medicine.
You notice that I did not say you were wrong...but asked you to confirm with a diving doctor... and I did not disallow that you may already have done so.
The trauma your Doc has ascribed to a pressure injury simply does not add up for me...but then I'm not a diving doctor and so my "maths" may be wrong.
Still...you "really can't be a*rsed..." to find out (shame!)
I'm sure your nursing friend, with the lovely blue (and red) eyes would be interested in clearing up any doubt.
John
Totally tasteless! Grow up!
John,
Either get a sense of humour or put me on your ignore list. It's known as postcard humour in some seaside places and, given that is my nature, I'd recommend you use the ignore list. You'll only be able to red me next time after giving reds/greens to 9 other people first - I doubt you'll be able to keep pace!
As one girl said to another girl about the camera man. "Is he going to focus?" to which the other replied "Not if I can help it!"
Bryan
Ben Panter
12-05-2006, 12:03
Thread closed as it seems to have run its course and I'm not remotely interested in providing an arena for personal attacks. If further information comes to light that would be useful please drop me a PM and we can reopen it.
I'd like to remind all participants that we aim our forums to be suitable for a 'family audience', whatever that is.
cheers,
Ben
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