Contact lens travel guide

Travelling can be a stressful business, and as almost everyone has experienced, it is easy to forget vital items when you are preoccupied with packing for a big trip. This is unfortunate when it comes to contact lenses, as you really need to remember to pack the items you need to ensure good eye care during your holiday.

Travelling and contact lenses can go together seamlessly, if you remember to pack what you need to care for your lenses. Additionally, if you have been advised by your optician to stick to a lens wearing schedule, remember not to deviate from it during your trip. This means avoiding wearing overnight lens wearing, whether you are in a plane or a hotel room. So remember to remove your lenses before an overnight flight and to store them properly.

Everyone who wears reusable varieties of contact lens will need to keep their lenses clean whether at home or abroad. So don't forget to pack storage cases and cleaning products when you travel.

One problem posed by international travel is that larger bottles are prohibited. Keep these in your main luggage and use smaller travel bottles of lens cleaning solution that can be carried onto the flight in your hand luggage. For shorter trips, travel pack solutions may avoid the need for bulky bottles altogether.

Plane cabins are notorious for causing drying of the eyes. This can lead to discomfort, making longer journeys tortuous for lens wearers. Solve this problem by carrying with you a bottle of eye drops. Alternatively, use rewetting products to maintain your lenses. Another option is to ditch your lenses for the flight and switch to glasses. So there are some easy ways to avoid dry eyes.

One really good piece of advice is to pack spare contact lenses or glasses. Lenses can tear and break anywhere, so don't be left without a solution to your vision problems.

If you are a regular wearer of weekly or monthly lenses, it may be a good idea to enquire with your optician about temporarily switching to daily disposable contact lenses for the duration of your trip. These lenses hardly need any maintenance and are simply thrown away every evening. Beach holidays and city breaks alike can benefit from the convenience that they provide.

You'll probably pack a pair anyway, but if you are going to wear sunglasses when on holiday, remember to take a pair which provides a high level of UV-absorbance. Particularly in hot destinations, UV rays can result in eye damage. Some people may wish to buy prescription sun glasses as an alternative to lens wearing.

Modern contact lenses can be produced which actively protect sensitive parts of the eye against UV damage (both from UV-A and UV-B rays). Check out products manufactured by Acuvue and Biomedic for good examples, but remember to check the level of UV protection that these lenses can provide. Lens models with particularly good UV blocking performance include Acuvue's Oasys and TrueEye varieties, which both claim to offer around 95 percent blockage. And don't be afraid to consult your optician about the best way to protect your eyes from the sun.

However, in most cases, contact lenses will not provide better UV protection compared to sunglasses, so always pack a pair and don't rely on contact lenses when travelling to sunny destinations. In depth studies have found that lenses are effective in protecting some parts of the eye that sunglasses cannot, while glasses protect parts that lenses can't cover. It's a mixed picture, and some people may wish to wear both glasses and lenses to be safe.

Over-exposure to UV rays can be extremely damaging, leading to cataracts, corneal sunburn, Pterygium and potentially, to macular degeneration.

No-one wants to be left high and dry when on vacation but lens wearing and water can present complications. When you swim, it is possible to contract bacterial infections as pathogens find their way behind the lens. This should be avoided if at all possible.

The best solution for swimmers is that they avoid wearing contact lenses in the water. Instead, prescription goggles can be purchased which correct vision and protect against bacteria. This way, you can avoid nasty conditions caused by bacteria like Acanthamoeba, which can cause painful inflammation. Additionally, water can dislodge lenses and lead to a tight feeling and intense discomfort.

Sometimes it won't be possible to find prescription goggles. In this case, the next best solution is simply to wear goggles over your lenses. Make sure that they fit well and prevent water from leaking in. Anyone who feels that they have to wear lenses in the water should use daily disposable varieties, reducing the amount of time that dirt and bacteria can spend on the lens. Then, dispose of the lenses immediately and put a fresh pair in.