gholt

Has anyone had any decent luck with keeping contact from drying out too much on the bike?

When I get to work I end up needing to put more solution in them about every hour. I have the Acuve Oasis contacts and when I get home I have to take them out. If I leave them in too long, they tend to get too dry and scratch my eye.

Would wearing a bigger pair of glasses help?

Right now, I wear Smith Mainline glasses.

knucklesandwich

I hae the same problem- sensitive eyes.
I wear some kind of Smith slider glasses now, they're pretty good coverage-wise.
But my eyes go crazy when the pollen's high- in DC we have 2 main waves; flower pollen then grass pollen.
(I don't have any respiratory issues with pollen, just the dust/eye issues.)
Best thing you can do is just keep the contacts clean and eyes well hydrated. Get a good 'teary' blink going while riding to keep them flushed out.

pieholden

I ride with hard lenses and Smith Empires. They are big but work well to keep the wind out of my eyes. the mirror lenses are the best sun protection vs. lense darkness I've ever tried.

lil brown bat

Sliders work good, but if you're really having problems, you should see your optometrist. Some folks just have dry-eye problems, and could be that's just not the right contact for you.

Az B

If you go really fast, your eyes will water.

No kidding.

Az

eofelis 

I sometimes have problems with my contacts getting dry on bike rides. It's not too bad considering that humidity has been <10% lately.

It's a bigger problem when this happens on a mtn bike ride when I have to be scanning the track ahead every moment and I can't see very well.

Tude 

Better glasses. Go to the LBS and try some on - get ones that enclose the eye area better - but with ventilation. I do have some cheaper smaller framed glasses that looked cool at first, but they offered no wind shielding at all. And gogglish kinda glasses, well I do have a couple pairs but I mainly use them in the winter.

Sci-Fi

Look at getting a pair of extended wear contacts for just cycling. They are a lot better than regular or disposable contacts esp if you have dry eyes like me. Extended wear is what I used to use until I went for the LASIK operation. At least for me, can wear them for hours (or days) without pain or needing eye drops every hour or 2 or having to take them out. But everybody is different and YMMV.

SpiderMike

I am on month number 8 of wearing soft contacts. Aside from a 3month stint with hard lenses years ago, it has been glasses. I have not needed it yet, but I carry a bottle of Visine(for contacts). I have a feeling that bottle will become my friend soon. Once the rain goes away, and the temps creep to the 100's. Does the higher temps play a factor?

Oh, I wear either my Oakley half jackets(transistions), or a cheap pair of glasses from the fishing section of Academy.

Cave

- Remember to blink
- Glasses - sports or safety glasses
- Refresher/tear drops

Dry hot wind and dust are the worst.

If nothing works and optometrist says eyes/lenses are fine, maybe ride in your prescription glasses and put contacts on at work (but riding in contacts is sooo much nicer!)

brew

punch yourself in the nose, your eyes will water. and anyone seeing you do that will not mess with you because they will think you are crazy, might come in handy with some JAM

ginsoakedboy

Punching yourself in the nose is just excessive in my opinion, and possibly painful. Instead, slam a can of Diet Dr. Pepper and then burp. Eyes will water like crazy, and viola, no more dry eyes. Plus, delicious 29 flavors in DP.

ItsJustMe

I wore contacts for a number of years. Eventually I gave up and got some glasses. To this day I have no idea why the hell I wore contacts for so many years. Glasses are so much nicer in every way. Fogging lenses is the ONLY problem I can think of, and contacts didn't help that since I had to wear goggles or sunglasses when riding with contacts anyway.

Wulfheir

I have contacts which are more porous than standard ones because of my prolonged use of computers. I've never had a problem with them cycling. I do, in most cases, wear sunglasses or safety glasses to keep crap out of my eyes.

sdime

My new contact lenses dry out very easily if I ride or engage in other sporting activities. Once it dries out, eye drops aren't enough to bring it back to life. It had to be soaked for several hours. Therefore, I also keep an extra pair of contact lense at the office.

brew

in all reality, maybe im just gettin lucky, but ive never had a problem with my contacts drying out. i wear a pair of shooting glasses with interchangeable lenses (dark and clear) about every time i go out for a long ride. but i do believe that the shooting glasses have alot to do with it due to their design. my normal sunglasses dont help me nearly as much, my eyes dont really dry out but i notice the difference. but on short rides i will wear those because, well they dont look as dorky.

ehsiung

When it's warm, a steady stream of sweat into my eyes keeps the lenses moist. I have problems in the winter when the humidity is low and I'm not sweating much, and this affects my eyes when either biking or running. Just gotta remember to blink a lot, this helps quite a bit.

Brian Ratliff

I ride with contacts all the time. I use sunglasses all the time too. Native Nano 2's. They have large lenses which keep the wind out of my eyes and come with four lens sets, clear, yellow, orange, and dark/polarized.

That said, I also know that everyone's eyes are different. My problems with dry eyes aren't when I am on my bike, but when I am working in the office in front of the computer. After work, when I first get on my bike, it is extremely problematic because I get a massive case of dry eyes, to the point where I almost cannot bear to open them, which, being on a bike, can be a problem. Usually after about a minute or so I am fine.

gholt

I like all the suggestions. Especiall the one to punch myself in the nose. I think that would make my eyes water. I think I may get a bigger pair of sunglasses and or not even wear them while I ride . But, thanks for all the helpful suggestions. I don't know what I would do without the site.