Contact Lenses - Soft vs GP

I have worn hard/GP lenses for 30+ years but broke my current pair and the new opticians strongly recommended soft lenses. I only wear lenses for active sports (=sailing) these days. Leaving aside that I still haven't mastered getting the softs out and the fact that they appear more comfortable, I have found that when sailing if I get seriously splashed in the face, the lenses go off the centre of the eye and I can't get them back quickly.

As a laser sailor who hikes quite hard on a shifty pond, I quite often get a faceful of water - is dislodging soft lenses a common problem or is it just me having to get used to the lenses? I used to have a GP lens off centre maybe a couple of times a year and a few blinks sorts it.

On saturday I was well ahead in the 8.1, splashed in to windward but did a water start but then spent the next leg and a half try to get the lenses back on the eye . as my eyesight is quite bad (-7), I was sailing on the wrong lines, sail not adjusted etc etc and could only spot those pesky 2.4's at the last moment . I was wearing  , which should have reduced the splash somewhat.... Net result was that I lost a couple of places

Any thoughts?

I wear contact lenses for sailing (again Specsavers Daily Disposables). As above I have only lost one once and I always keep plenty of spares in the glovebox.

Occasionally when water gets under them you think it has gone but a few blinks and it normally comes back.

No problem getting them out - I tend to pinch them. Having been a glasses wearing sailor I would not go back.

A good idea to not leave them in overnight - which can happen if partaking in a bit too much post sailing relaxing.

Laser surgery, the way forward.

 

No garuntees of anything but I was told that your eyes will deterioate any way in later life.

I went to Moorfields not a back street job, the surgeon who is a sailor put my mind to rest, it has made a huge difference to my sailing actually being able to see marks and shifts a lot earlier. 

Definitely have laser surgery. I had it done 10 years ago and have never regretted it. For the cost of a holiday it makes life so much easier, and in the long run it’s probably cheaper than contact lenses.

As to your eyes deteriorating in later life, the correction to your short sightedness is permanent. However you may need reading glasses in later life. If you don’t have the treatment you may end up needing bi-focals which are very expensive and not particularly good solution.

It was explained to me that the short-sightedness is due to a mis-shaped front of the eye ball, which the laser surgery reshapes. The later long-sightedness which leads to reading glasses is a deterioration of the optic nerve at the back of the eye.

So it is two separate problems, although it is common for people who have one to be susceptible to the second.

Hope that helps

Hugh