contact lenses on the camino?

[Carolyn Clark]

Hi everyone,

I wear daily disposable contact lenses which I find much more comfortable than glasses. Is this a problem on the camino. I would have to carry the weight of cleaning solution and the lenses and would need soap and clean water for putting them in. What are other people's experience with contacts on the camino? Thank you for your thoughts.

Carolyn

 

[Kiwi-d]

Hi Carolyn. I wore daily disposables so just took sufficient plus a few spares and never had any problems. You will need to take your own soap though as it's not provided.

 

[Dave2525]

I normally wear monthlies, but for this I got a supply of dailies. It was quite easy just to toss them at the end of the day. My pack also got a bit lighter as a result

 

[Anemone del Camino]

I had my last pair two pairs of glasses made for the Camino: transition lenses. Love them as it means my eyes are never straining with sun light and I don't need sunglasses. Ah, but in the morning, whenthey fog up... Or when it rains, what a pain.

 

[VSB]

I brought contact lenses for my first few Caminos, daily disposables too. My question is, why would you need to bring solution, if they're daily disposables? More recently I've given up on lenses when walking, especially if I'm staying in dorms. Simply put, those night-time treks to the bathroom or the early morning grab-and-go getaways are much easier if you can just grab your glasses and push them on to your face when you need to see, instead of fiddling about with lenses. During the day you're likely to be wearing sunglasses anyway. Have you considered prescription sunglasses? I know what you mean about lenses being more comfortable than glasses, but glasses are more practical - and I hate to say that, because I look awful in mine!

 

[LauraK]

I wear daily disposable contacts. Took contacts in a ziplock bag, no solution. I also took a face wash soap. Once I washed my face in the morning, I would rinse my hands and then put my contacts in. Water is clean in Spain and all albergues have water and mirrors in the bathrooms. No problems.

 

[Griffin57]

I wear daily disposable contacts. Took contacts in a ziplock bag, no solution. I also took a face wash soap. Once I washed my face in the morning, I would rinse my hands and then put my contacts in. Water is clean in Spain and all albergues have water and mirrors in the bathrooms. No problems.

Same here but I took a tiny magnifying mirror to make it easier to put lenses in. No problems at all.

Buen camino
Sarah

 

[PeteT70]

Hi everyone,

I wear daily disposable contact lenses which I find much more comfortable than glasses. Is this a problem on the camino. I would have to carry the weight of cleaning solution and the lenses and would need soap and clean water for putting them in. What are other people's experience with contacts on the camino? Thank you for your thoughts.

Carolyn

Hi Carolyn, I too wondered about this as im a contact lenses wearer.
But this is really easy for me, im packing 50 pairs of daily disposable lenses (spares always handy) and 2 x 15ml bottles of rewetting cleansing drops. These drops both clean and moisten eyes without taking lenses out during the day.
Total weight of 50 pairs of lenses and their packaging plus 2 x 15 ml bottles of drops is around 150g.

 

[Carolyn Clark]

Thank you everyone for your thoughts on this. This forum is a great service .

 

[Rellrog]

I also use contact lenses but since I started also wearing transition glasses I am using the contacts less frequently. I found that wearing contacts required that I bring a pair of reading glasses and a pair of sunglasses. On the Camino Frances, I just wore my transition glasses. It acted as sunglasses when I was outside and when I was reading or close to others I just took them off. I also brought some contact lenses but found that I only used them a few times.

 

[Anamya]

Same here but I took a tiny magnifying mirror to make it easier to put lenses in. No problems at all.

Sarah

Yup, same here. I wear monthly lenses, so I had one spare pair on the backpack (less weight than carrying a lot of them). Little bottle of fluid will do, and if you need more, well, there are pharmacies everywhere.

I had my glasses too, just in case all lenses were gone or if I had to get up quickly in the morning.

 

[Shades of Narnia]

Hi everyone,

I wear daily disposable contact lenses which I find much more comfortable than glasses. Is this a problem on the camino. I would have to carry the weight of cleaning solution and the lenses and would need soap and clean water for putting them in. What are other people's experience with contacts on the camino? Thank you for your thoughts.

Carolyn

No problem for me at all. I even replenished my solution 1/2 way along the Francis at a Farmacia. I brought along 1 extra case and a pack of 6 replacement lenses.
sandi, Shades of Narnia