If you wear contact lenses, chances are you have bad eyesight and dislike wearing glasses.
Is there any reason to stop using your contact lenses while backpacking?
The answer is no. It is possible to wear and sanitize your contact lenses successfully in the wilderness, but you must pay careful attention to maintaining lens hygiene.
Are Glasses really Necessary?
Consider how confident you would be if you were to lose your contact lenses for any reason. It’s wise to bring glasses, especially if you struggle to see clearly enough to determine whether that thing nestled inside your shoe is your sock or a snake! Additionally, you never know when an eye infection might arise, causing pain that makes it difficult to wear your contacts. Allergies can also lead to teary and swollen eyes, which may affect your ability to wear lenses comfortably. If you have astigmatism and wear toric lenses, you might find it challenging to keep your lenses properly centered in dry climates or at high altitudes. Therefore, yes, glasses are likely an essential item to include in your backpacking gear.
Contact Lens Supplies
Get a small travel-size bottle of solution and refill it as needed. Bring along your usual lens case. We recommend using a screw lid case — these tend to be more durable and less likely to tear your lenses or spring a leak. Before leaving for your trip, fill the lens case with the disinfecting solution and seal it tightly.
Tip: The next time you are in for your eye exam, ask your optometrist if they have any trial-size contact lens solution. Sales representatives often provide eye doctors with free samples to distribute to patients.
Clean contacts with Clean Fingers
You’ll need a method to wipe the grime off your fingertips to avoid the transfer of pathogens into your eye, which can lead to infection. The last thing you want is an eye infection, or a speck of dirt scratching or tearing your contacts. A few tips and suggestions that you might not have considered –
Soap & water
This is the obvious choice, but it depends on the availability of water. What we find works best is to place a very tiny drop of concentrated soap, such as Dr. Bronners, on your dry bandanna, pour some water on it, and wipe your face and hands thoroughly. Now splash a small amount of water directly on your fingers and face to rinse. Soap and water is the cheapest and most effective way to remove both dirt and bacteria – neither of which you want in your eyes.
Hand sanitizer
A waterless sanitizer is your best option in areas where water rationing is required. Just keep in mind that sanitizers do not remove dirt particles. They simply kill any present bacteria. Because dirt serves as a migration path for microbes, start with clean hands before use.
Make sure you rub the sanitizer on your fingertips. Be careful because your fingers may burn your eyes due to the alcohol. To prevent burning your eyes after sanitizing, dip the fingers you use to remove your contacts in a small amount of water or the contact lens solution cap. Filling the lens caps with water works fine for dipping fingers. No water at all? Dip your index and thumb into the lens solution before removing your contacts. Even better: plan ahead and always keep the old solution in your lens case for the purpose of removing alcohol from your fingers. After cleaning your fingers with the old solution, discard it and replace it with a fresh solution.
Tip: Avoid sanitizers containing Triclosan, a chemical that is very toxic to aquatic life and linked to thyroid and liver toxicity in humans. Whatever is not washed off the skin will be absorbed into the body.
Wet wipes
Some people prefer wet wipes because they serve multiple purposes, are lightweight, and compact. You can also use them to wash up and toss them into the fire when done. The alcohol content makes them helpful in starting a fire. Plan on using one wipe per day. At night, wash your face with a clean cloth, followed by your hands. In the morning, your fingers should still be clean, so no need to wipe them down again. Look for unscented versions to prevent attracting wildlife. If using scented wipes, keep them stowed with your food. Properly carry out or dispose used wipes if you don’t have a fire. Look for alcohol-based wipes. You do not need antibacterial wipes.
Tip: To avoid burning your eyes from the alcohol residue of wet wipes or hand sanitizer, always leave the old solution sitting in your lens case for the purpose of removing alcohol residue off your thumb and index finger (or whatever digits you use to remove lenses). After cleaning off your fingers with the old solution, dump, and insert fresh solution.
When using contact lens solution
Use the solution sparingly. Use enough to keep the lens moist, or immerse it in the solution rather than leaving it beneath a pool of soaking solution. We recommend using the no-rub, all-purpose solution, which can also be used as eye drops during the day. Always use fresh solution to disinfect lenses properly. Never use tap water or untreated water to store or rinse your lenses with.
If you run out or forget your solution, salt water can be used as an emergency substitution.
If you run out or forget your solution, salt water can be used as an emergency substitution.Mix a packet of salt (about ¼ tsp) with about ¼ cup of water and boil for 10 minutes. Allow the water to cool before using, as heat can damage many of the newer “hydrogel” soft lenses made from silicone. Soak and rinse contact lenses with the homemade saline solution as needed. The protozoan Acanthamoeba is common in freshwater (and soil) and can cause a severe eye infection, referred to as Acanthamoeba keratitis. The virus cannot survive after boiling water. Boiling water without salt is not recommended, as the addition of salt acts as an antiseptic to fight any bacteria present on the lenses and inside the case.
Other thoughts
- Can you take your contacts out and in without a mirror? Practice inserting and removing contact lenses at home without one. Otherwise, you will need to carry a small mirror as well. Packing a non-breakable small mirror is a good idea, as it can serve as an emergency signal device and help start fires.
- Daily Disposables can be an excellent option for backpacking for shorter trips. After a day of hiking, you can toss them out at night without needing to clean or provide additional supplies. This minimizes the risk of contamination and reduces the need to carry lens solution, cases, and perhaps spare glasses.
- Can you sleep with contact lenses? If you have extended-wear lenses, try sleeping in them. You might get by OK by leaving them in up to a week and using drops in the morning.
- Your contact lens can freeze in the soaking solution. Store the lens case in your sleeping bag. If the lens solution freezes, soft contact lenses will become shriveled and hardened. They can usually be saved by warming up the case. Rub the case back and forth in your hands to allow the heat generated by friction to thaw the solution. Your lens should then uncurl. Once you put them in, your body warmth should form them into the correct shape.
- Your eyes can be exposed to harsh environmental elements when backpacking, including sunlight, dust, and pollen. Use sunglasses to protect your eyes and keep your contact lenses free from contaminants.
- Eyes often dry out more quickly at higher altitudes, where there is less oxygen. Keep extra solution or eye drops handy. Bring your glasses in case something happens to your eyes/contacts.
9 thoughts on “Contact Lens When Backpacking: Tips for Maintaining Good Eye Health”
Wearing specs and handling them is one side of the story. Shifting to the contact lenses and maintaining them is a whole new side of the story.
But there are solutions to these problems too. Acuvue provides the disposable contact lenses, which you can use for a day and dispose. Along with other contact lenses with different life span.
Price might be a issue here but it is solution to the difficulty of maintaining the contact lenses nonetheless.
Hi there,
I came across this post while looking up backpacking blogs and noticed a few inaccuracies.
Firstly, you should always wash your hands before touching your contact lenses. The eye does not have any extra defenses against foreign bodies like dirt, bacteria, viruses, etc aside from tear production and eyelids/lashes. Relying on your hands to still be clean from removing the lenses previous is impractical, as there could be dirt and bacteria on your clothes or sleeping gear that you’ll touch and then transfer into your eye, resulting in an eye infection.
Secondly, sleeping in your contact lenses is quite harmful to the eye, as the lens will create a barrier that the oxygen in the aqueous humour cannot penetrate. It essentially suffocates the cornea.
Certainly a few good points here and few misunderstandings.
Very good idea to test out your cleaning regime and handling in different circumstances before you go. Time spent in planning is never wasted.
Daily disposables are a good option.
Extended wear for a week or continuous wear for up to a month are also good options. See your eyecare practitioner well before your departure date so they can try out various options.
Some boring points
Acanthamoeba in a nasty protazoa and not to be underestimated. It is not a virus and will not be killed by boiling, that is what makes it so nasty! Lenses dry quicker at higher altitudes due to lack of moisture not lack of oxygen although the higher you go the less oxygen you will get.
Contact lenses have been to the North Pole, South Pole, top of Everest, bottom of the ocean, across deserts and into space. With some careful thought there is not reason why contact lenses cannot be used safely in most environments.
Hi, I don’t think you can boil a quarter cup of water for ten minutes. In the scenario describe in the article, I think you will end up with very hot salt. Perhaps boiling two cups of water with salt for ten minutes would make a better substitute for a saline solution product. I mean to waste a little water is better than risking
Regarding “At night, wash your face with the cloth followed by your hands. In the morning your fingers should still be clean, so no need to wipe down again.”
It would be a better idea to clean you hands again in the morning before applying contact lens. People tend to scratch, rub or other wise touch themselves during sleep in place that might not be crystal clean.
My husband and I are thinking about going on a backpacking trip this summer. I wear contacts everyday, and I’m thinking about taking them with me. Your suggestion to clean contacts with clean fingers, in order to prevent spreading pathogens into the eye, is important to remember. I’ll make sure to try your suggestion to use hand sanitizer on our trip.
I love the outdoors, and I have contacts. This article was perfect for me! I really liked that tip about using the basics, like soap and water, to clean them.
Really a worth reading blog.
These days it would be much simpler to use a daily disposable contact lens. This would eliminate the need to bring cases and solution (both of which add weight). Instead you could bring the needed number of 1 day blister packs which are pretty light. It also gets rid of the need to keep the CL case clean and empty of debris which can be a challenge in the back-country.
Like recommended in this article though, it would still be important to use proper hand hygiene when inserting and removing the contact lenses.