If you have bad eyesight how do you see to ski?

[Horton]

I wear contacts and clear safety glasses. it always surprises me more skiers do not the same

[foxriverat]

I wear contacts. Tried prescription goggles didn't like. What works best for me is keeping eyes shut till I'm up.

[dbutcher]

Try skiing without any glasses. You might be surprised. I have worn glasses since 3rd grade. I always wore sports glasses when skiing until this past winter. When it's cold, my ski glasses would fog up in spite of all the anti-fog stuff I put on them. One day when I got tired of fogged glasses and not being able to see the course, I threw them in the boat. I found I could see well enough to run the slalom course just fine. I don't see the 55's until I'm about 100' from them, but that's plenty. It's really nice not to have to hassle with ski glasses. I'm guessing that contacts are even more of a hassle for skiing.

[david_ski]

I ski with contacts. I use clear safety glasses to ski in the rain.

[mwetskier]

soft contact lenses work *great* for me. i use 1-day ' acuvue moist ' disposable with the same prescription for both eyes and i throw them away when i am done skiing for the day. use water sports goggles for heavy rain. never lost a lens skiing.

[Orlando76]

I look dumb enough skiing as it is without goggles!! When/if I become a better skier I'll probably wear goggles with my contacts. One pass per set I ski straight through the course due to water in my eyes, makes me wonder how a tournament skier does it. A guy I ski with is blind as a bat, can't drive through the course without glasses yet can ski it without glasses.

[dvskier]

I had ReStore lenses implanted into my eyes. That gave me 20-20 vision across the board! No more reading glasses. This is a very safe procedure that takes 15 minutes per eye. Procedure was 5 years ago and no downside.

[MISkier]

I use "the Force".

[gregy]

I had corrective surgery about 10 years ago. I've lost a lot the correction but it's still more than good enough to ski. Before we had 55s I had a hard time judging when to pull out and I could barely see the gates at 15off for turning in.

[Bill22]

I use soft contact lenses. When I first started skiing the course I missed a pass or two due to spray in the eyes on the start. I learned fast to not let that happen.

[OTF]

Just close your eyes going through the gates then open again after the 3rd hard right. The gate balls should pop right out at you, ski through those, shorten and repeat

[Wish]

Science

 

and $5 polarized sports sunglasses found in the fishing isle at Walmart...clear on cloudy days.

[david_ski]

My soft contacts opened up the door to being able to ski a course and get better. Prior to contacts I would just ski with everything a little fuzzy. I could not ski the course any faster than 30mph without everything becoming fuzzy. Contacts opened up my ability to see the course, increase speed to 34mph, and shorten the line.

 

I have not found that I needed to wear goggles to protect my eyes/contacts. Googles are only used when skiing in the rain. Before my first pull-up, I put my face in the water to get my eyes and contacts wet. Dry contacts with me cause things to blur. I have never had any problems with my current contacts (Air Optix). Air Optix are monthly replacement lenses. I never have had to discard a pair after skiing.

 

A couple of years after I started wearing contacts (a different brand that is not made anymore), I took a good fall and one contact ended up getting folded back way under the eyelid. I would of hated to have a pair of safety goggles on with that fall. The contact lense took a long time before I could get it out. Those first contacts were a little thicker than my current contacts.

[paco]

Sounds like I'm fortunate, I wear contacts. I have for 20+ years. Never have an issue. I can even open my eyes under water with them. On occasion, I'll get a little spray that's a little aggravating, but that's rarely.

 

I just wonder how a pair of glasses with a good coat of rain x would work for folks that can't wear contacts?

[LeonL]

I'm with @dbutcher. I had trouble skiing without some sort of correction until the advent of pregates dates me I know. With pregates (55m) I don't need any glasses, etc. Trry it. You'd be surprised. Your eyes have to be pretty bad to not be able to see the 55's in time to pull out. if you can manage that you don't need any correction the rest of the way.

[markn]

With -10.5 correction, soft contacts are a requirement. Not sure I could even see the lake without them! Spray does cause an issue from time to time, that just makes for more of a challenge. I must be one of the few skiers who does not use the 55's.

[chrislandy]

daily disposable contacts have worked for me for years, I've never skied with goggles - don't like the idea of a bit of solid plastic that close to my eye whilst crashing at 40+

 

I don't worry about contacts and rain, I just don't ski in it ;)

[lpskier]

I had LASIK. Before that, I had polycarbonate Rx lenses in a sports frame with an elastic band and a floater on the band. Looked a little goofy but I could see.

 

I carry clear safety glasses in my tool bag with Rain X on the outside of the lense and RainX anti fog on the inside incase of rain at a tournament.

 

Ricky McCormick used to jump in sun glasses.

[ALPJr]

Contacts since I discovered buoys about 25 years ago. For 15 years before that nothing - I was shocked by what I could see when I went to contacts. This year my eye doc said I should wear waterproof goggles to keep bacteria out.

[lcgordon]

For the people who wear contacts is there something you do when you get water in your eyes to get it out quick. Idk what happens if it gets behind my lens or something but it is almost where I cant open my eyes. With slalom Im pretty good I just close my eyes until im up. But when I barefoot until I stand I pretty much have water spraying in my face and for some reason I cant stand with my eyes closed. I catch a toe every time. Gets to be a pain and I cant really figure out a good way to get the water out quick.

[ScottScott]

I thought about posing this question on the other thread about goggles, now as this is a similar conversation.... @Horton and @wish in particular.....obviously the safety glasses should be strong enough(?,) a little more concerned about the sports glasses ...... as I have taken a number of face 1st, over the front falls, I am a little concerned about anything on my eyes while skiing. As those face 1st falls have left my eyes stinging, some protection would be nice, but I don't want to do more harm than good. Being in Florida I would like something tented, and my girlfriend wares contacts and does get some water on them occasionally so a SAFE solution would be good for her. So I guess my question is whether there is any concern about any of these glasses/goggles breaking, or coming loose in a face 1st fall, and causing harm to the eyes?

[Fam-man]

Some of the responses may depend on your definition of "bad" eyesight.

I'm near sighted so need glasses for distance vision. This is the first season that I've skied in the course, when free skiing I always went without vision enhancers and had no issues. When I'm driving I will always put my glasses back on. When I first started in the course I did the same, it wasn't until we were sneaking a last set in at dusk that I had trouble picking up the balls which affected me most on set-up. Once in the course I was fine. Since then I've been wearing contacts which makes no difference in the afternoon but really helps at dusk. Have had some issues with water in the eye causing some contact problem.

If I'm wearing contacts I don't barefoot, concerned about blowing the contact into the back of my eye since barefooting commonly ends face first...

[lcgordon]

While footing when crashing my eyes are closed. I have fallin enough now that I kinda know right as it happens.

[Wish]

@ScottScott I hear you and that was a concern of mine. My opinion however has 0 scientific basis and am not suggesting anyone should take my word for it. Use caution and judgement with anything near the eyes no mater how big the word SAFETY is stamped on it. With that said, since the sunglasses I use are so cheap, I have removed the lenses and beat on them with objects, stood on them, and attempted to bend them in half till they break. They generally are so thin-ish that the polycarbonate just flexes looooooong before breaking. Can damn near fold them in half before they snap. As safety classes while running any industrial machine that could launch a sharp object at high velocity....no, not good to use. I just do not see that in skiing. A face plant would be a compression force on a lighter scale then me stomping on the lense with the heal if my shoe on concrete. As a side note, I do remember those eye pealing falls when I was younger. Maybe I'm just smarter now and do not take those kinds of falls. Cannot really remember the last time it happened.

 

Edit; I believe @Hortons shades are actually safety rated..could be wrong.

[Horton]

The glasses that I use are actually safety glasses. The lenses are one piece with the frame.

[DW]

I wear my gas perm contacts for both slalom and barefooting. Only lost a 'few' lenses over the years, pretty much cost of business to me. I close my eyes on slalom and barefoot startups and tend to squint (I think or guess, I am not totally sure) as a reflex to keep water out or not able to pop the lens out. I tend to wear a pair of Spex goggles when skiing late at night when I know the bugs will get in the eyes but that is not really an option for footing as they tend to just get pulled off on start ups.

 

@lcgordon : On the footing getups, I am fortunate enough to be able to plant my feet and be about 3/4 standing before I open my eyes, able to have eyes open enough on tumbles to know by sight where in the rotation I am to stand back up although I wonder if I close them as I first stand back up and open as I rotate back up. I did get a contact lost in my eye on a footing fall, took a long time for it to finally be found and extracted out of the eye. I even wear them when I do footing backs off the boom. You might practice get ups on a boom and harness, should be less spray than long line.

[ski6jones]

Extended wear contacts. Never lost one and don't change them after skiing. I don't sleep in them so they get soaked in solution every night. That should address any extra bacteria from the lake, etc. No problems aside from the very infrequent drop of water in the wrong place. By infrequent I mean once every couple of years, maybe. Mainly wear goggles for glare.

[gsm_peter]

Soft 1 day contacts.

Can't see the boat without them.

Use them a few times and the dispose them.

Close eye's at start and falls.

Preference a longer start to blinking water out of my eyes.

Lose one or two per season.

Only at severe falls.

 

I do like the idea of goggles.

More things to worry about.

 

[GregHind]

Lasik > 15 years ago. Still brilliant vision up close or far away. It has never deteriorated. Way better than 20/20 vision but I can't remember the number because my eyes are so good I don't need to get tests! I can see leaves on trees on the far side of large public lakes. So I'm a fan!

[StevePops]

I wear 1 day soft contacts and goggles(Spex Amphibian Eyewear). Works great!

[blagrata]

I have two different brands of contacts.... one specifically for skiing and one for everyday wear. Vertex Toric by Coopervision (if you need Toric lenses) seem to be much more resistant to absorbing water. I have have tried other brands and have had no luck. There is definitely a difference in how different brands pick up water.

[BlueSki]

+1 on daily disposable lenses. Went to the Acuvue daily disposable Oasys and that was a step up for skiing over the Tru Eye. I wear the floating sunglasses only in the evening or rain. Definitely helps.

 

My wife and one of my sons started wearing the floating glasses after I bought a pair, but they don't need contacts, they just like the glare reduction.

[PatM]

Don't have a problem with vision in the course except when there is glare. As a person who needs reading glasses I do have a hard time reading the ZO times especially buoy times. Its a little embarrassing when trying to read it while driving in a tournament.

[B_S]

Prescription Spex. No way can I see without. I've tried with contacts, but water was always getting between the lens and my eye.

[sixball]

Seeing eye dog! But dammer he ski's better then me!

[markchilcutt]

contacts

 

[Vette_Boy]

My solution was.....Lasik, tried contacts, miserable failure. Floating glasses, broke....or were pulled off my head, then you had to try and find them.....

[dchristman]

@"Pat M" Here's what you need - sun readers.