contacts for vision correction?

Jeanie

Jeanie

Pattern Altitude
Joined
Dec 15, 2008
Messages
2,239
Location
Alpine, TX
Display Name
Display name:
Jeanie
Can a pilot wear contacts for vision correction? Seems silly to ask I spose but well, does the difference in pressures w/ altitude changes affect how they sit / wear on your eyes?
I have to wear corrective lenses and am considering getting contacts this next round. That way I don't have to get prescription sunglasses too....
 
Jeanie said:
Can a pilot wear contacts for vision correction? Seems silly to ask I spose but well, does the difference in pressures w/ altitude changes affect how they sit / wear on your eyes?
I have to wear corrective lenses and am considering getting contacts this next round. That way I don't have to get prescription sunglasses too....
Click to expand...

Absolutely. Many, many pilots (like me) wear contacts.

I've never noticed any altitude related fit issues.
 
Good, now all I have to do is see if I can stand to use the kind that have bifocal correction as part of the lense....
 
What about pulling Gs doing aerobatica - positive and negative ... would that affect my eyes?
 
Jeanie said:
What about pulling Gs doing aerobatica - positive and negative ... would that affect my eyes?
Click to expand...

USAF Approves contact wear for all pilots.. even those that pull high Gs.
AF issued my first pair of contacts back in the early 90s.

Only requirement was to carry a pair of glasses in the flight suit while flying. And if I had to take them out, I could take the contacts out, put on my glasses and be instantly back to 20/20 corrected.
 
Jeanie said:
Good, now all I have to do is see if I can stand to use the kind that have bifocal correction as part of the lense....
Click to expand...

I've just started using bi-focal contacts for my personal flying. I can read the chart in day light and see everything just fine.
With the single vision (distant) contact, I still needed cheater reader glasses for chart work.

The trick will be at night with proper lighting. Even with the bifocal contact, lighting makes a difference.
 
Jeanie, there is one contact lens system that is prohibited. One for near, and one for far. That is verboten. Google: AAR 97/03
 
Last edited:
bbchien said:
Jeanie, there is one contact lens system that is prohibited. One for near, and one for far. That is verboten. Google: AAR 97/03
Click to expand...

~~~~~~ that makes sense - it would be like having only one eye and would reduce your depth of field judgment, right?
 
Jeanie said:
Can a pilot wear contacts for vision correction? Seems silly to ask I spose but well, does the difference in pressures w/ altitude changes affect how they sit / wear on your eyes?
I have to wear corrective lenses and am considering getting contacts this next round. That way I don't have to get prescription sunglasses too....
Click to expand...
I switched from glasses to contacts about 20 years ago and have been flying with them since. There are at least three issues to consider. One is that GA airplane cabin ventilation often directs outside air at the pilot's face and that can/will dry your contacts causing some problems like pain and lens displacement. Wearing sunglasses helps block the air, especially if they sit fairly tight to your forehead. And the second issue is lens displacement which is when something causes a lens to slip off your cornea. In my case I can see well enough to fly and land without any correction in either eye (one eye is only 20/40 or so). But I also have a lighted "vanity" mirror clipped to the visor which I can easily position so that I can see my eyes and recenter a lens that's gone astray. Third is the possibility of losing a lens while on a trip. I always carry a backup set of lenses, typically the set that got replaced on my last vision checkup and I also get a pair of glasses (insurance pays for them anyway) when I get a new optical prescription and pack them in my luggage. Without backup you could be stuck out of town with no way to legally fly.
 
kgruber said:
These kind of posts make me so feel fortunate to have had Lasik.
Click to expand...
These kinds of posts make me regret having had vision correction surgery, as now that middle age has gotten me I can't wear contacts at all and must wear glasses for my presbyopia/astigmatism.
 
Ken Ibold said:
These kinds of posts make me regret having had vision correction surgery, as now that middle age has gotten me I can't wear contacts at all and must wear glasses for my presbyopia/astigmatism.
Click to expand...
That is a downside.

I've also used contacts for years. There are so many advances in the technology now that you really don't notice them anymore. It's like having had surgery except without any irreversible effects. I use contacts for flying, diving, swimming, etc...pretty much everything and I haven't ever lost one or had similar major issues in almost 10 years.

-Felix
 
I had vision correction surgery and still wear contacts (actually one minus strength contact lens) while flying. I also wear drugstore reading glasses for instrument work and when flying VFR at night. My eyes have recently gone more farsighted and I'll soon be wearing a plus lens on the other eye and nothing on the eye I wear a lens on now.

If you only require a spherical correction, even with presbyopia you can always wear contacts to make you plano for distance vision and use readers for up close. It's harder and more expensive if you have astigmatism though.
 
Yes. The 3rd class med only says 'corrective lenses'. It does not specifically call out glasses or contacts.

I have worn contacts for years, and regularly fly at 10k feet in an unpressurized plane. I notice no issues, other than my eyes will dry out quicker than normal, so I keep saline in the plane, as well as a spare set of contacts and glasses for emergency purposes.



Jeanie said:
Can a pilot wear contacts for vision correction? Seems silly to ask I spose but well, does the difference in pressures w/ altitude changes affect how they sit / wear on your eyes?
I have to wear corrective lenses and am considering getting contacts this next round. That way I don't have to get prescription sunglasses too....
Click to expand...
 
I wore contacts when I was younger, hard lenses, gas perms, couldn't wear soft lenses due to my major league astigmatism.

Then came 40 and my eyes didn't make the moisture they once did so it was back to glasses for the first time since I was 13.

Then last year at 49 I had lasik. Went from 20/800 to 20/40. I'll take it.
 
Always flown with contacts, no problems other than the dry eyes others have noted - I sometimes use the right-side pocket of the tri-fold to hold a bottle of lens rewetting drops.

I've always worn soft contacts, but in the last 2 years or so I've switched to soft daily wear lenses - I toss two individual packets in the flight bag, and there's my backup set of 'fresh eyes'.
 
timwinters said:
I wore contacts when I was younger, hard lenses, gas perms, couldn't wear soft lenses due to my major league astigmatism.
Click to expand...

I can't wear soft contacts either, for unrelated reasons. They tried to sell me on those gas permeable things. Bleeech! Little torture devices. Wanna really punish the terrorists? Correct their vision with those things. Won't take long before they're ready to pledge their allegiance to a pile of doggie do if that's what you want.
 
steingar said:
I can't wear soft contacts either, for unrelated reasons. They tried to sell me on those gas permeable things. Bleeech! Little torture devices. Wanna really punish the terrorists? Correct their vision with those things. Won't take long before they're ready to pledge their allegiance to a pile of doggie do if that's what you want.
Click to expand...

Wore them for 25 years or so. They weren't too bad UNTIL you got something in your eye. Man, talk about pain.

I'd rather be kicked in the balls.
 
timwinters said:
Wore them for 25 years or so. They weren't too bad UNTIL you got something in your eye. Man, talk about pain.

I'd rather be kicked in the balls.
Click to expand...

Or maybe not. I had gas perms for a long time but I could pop one out when something got behind the lens. I have yet to find a way to quickly relieve the other pain. :wink2:
 
I fly with toric-multifocal, astigmatic-correcting contact lenses. Works great -- glad the technology for all that came together about five years ago. That allowed me to stop weaing reading glasses with my old distant-only contacts. But as Bruce said, while multifocal is OK, monovision is not.
 
Ron Levy said:
I fly with toric-multifocal, astigmatic-correcting contact lenses. Works great -- glad the technology for all that came together about five years ago. That allowed me to stop weaing reading glasses with my old distant-only contacts. But as Bruce said, while multifocal is OK, monovision is not.
Click to expand...

The toric lenses bothered me like crazy. I said, hey, lets just see if I can get my with normal lens instead. It worked, and we were able to get 20/20 out of it, which was the concern. My only issue with contact is that my eyes are on the dry side to begin with, so I have to hit them with the rewetting drops after a few hours. Other than that I sometimes forget they are in.
 
EdFred said:
The toric lenses bothered me like crazy. I said, hey, lets just see if I can get my with normal lens instead. It worked, and we were able to get 20/20 out of it, which was the concern.
Click to expand...
FWIW, I found no significant difference in wear comfort for my multifocals compared to the single-vision lenses they replaced. Fortunately, you aren't old enough to need multifocals, but someday, as Yoda said, "You will be." ;)
 
Ron Levy said:
FWIW, I found no significant difference in wear comfort for my multifocals compared to the single-vision lenses they replaced. Fortunately, you aren't old enough to need multifocals, but someday, as Yoda said, "You will be." ;)
Click to expand...

He's getting close. I needed mine at 39. You know how time flies. :D

I have always resisted contacts. I wonder if I should rethink that. I wonder if they make progressive contact lenses.
 
Greg Bockelman said:
He's getting close. I needed mine at 39. You know how time flies. :D
Click to expand...
I was 45.
I have always resisted contacts. I wonder if I should rethink that. I wonder if they make progressive contact lenses.
Click to expand...
The mechanics are a little different with the toric multifocals, but the effect is that you have both distant and near vision, and you don't have to bob your head up and down to get it. You have that full range of focus throughout your field of vision, so you can see the overhead panel just as easily as looking out the front or reading the charts in your lap. Talk to a top quality optometrist (an O.D., not an optician) for advice.
 
I think I have a ways to go for bi focals. I have better than 20/10 near vision.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
Anyone ever tried these?
Click to expand...

Hmm. I had seen those in the past but could never find them anywhere. It was getting to the point that I thought I was dreaming it.

The problem with those is that my range of vision on the overhead varies from about 6 inches to about 3.5 FEET. One correction isn't adequate for that range.
 
Ron Levy said:
I was 45.
The mechanics are a little different with the toric multifocals, but the effect is that you have both distant and near vision, and you don't have to bob your head up and down to get it. You have that full range of focus throughout your field of vision, so you can see the overhead panel just as easily as looking out the front or reading the charts in your lap. Talk to a top quality optometrist (an O.D., not an optician) for advice.
Click to expand...
Are you able to get the same range of focus with contacts that you can with glasses? I've never been able to shed the readers completely, still needing them for reading charts at night in the airplane and without them I have to increase the text size on my computer as well.

I imagine I could have the prescription adjusted for more near correction but I was told that my distance correction (currently 20/40 and 20/200 uncorrected, 20/20 corrected) might be worse.
 
I just can't get past the idea of voluntarily putting a foreign object on my eye. Been wearing progressive lenses for years (well over 15, might be 20) and I'll stick with them. Plus, I don't have to remember to grab my sunglasses as I have transitions type coatings, so they're already in place. :D
 
Ron Levy said:
I fly with toric-multifocal, astigmatic-correcting contact lenses. Works great -- glad the technology for all that came together about five years ago. That allowed me to stop weaing reading glasses with my old distant-only contacts. But as Bruce said, while multifocal is OK, monovision is not.
Click to expand...

Ron, I just got done talking about these things with my eye doc office. She seemed to think that the top of the lens was for distance and the bottom for near, sort of like my current progressive lenses. Sounds different from what I hear you saying.

The Toric lenses are new enough that they don't know all that much about them. Of course, I didn't actually talk to the doc and she may be better informed on them.

You by chance have a web link where I can learn more?
 
Greg Bockelman said:
The problem with those is that my range of vision on the overhead varies from about 6 inches to about 3.5 FEET. One correction isn't adequate for that range.
Click to expand...
Well, I've seen glasses made for bifocal-wearing pilots flying aircraft with overhead panels where they put a second near vision segment in the upper part of the lens, but whether or not that would cover 6 inches to 3.5 feet is going to be an individual issue based on your particular eye situation which only you and your eye doc can answer. How are you doing that now? in any event, my vision with the multifocal contacts is good from about 9 inches to miles. As for six inches, that's awfully close -- how small is the writing? I can't read regular newspaper text that close, but I can read the subheadlines.
 
gismo said:
Are you able to get the same range of focus with contacts that you can with glasses? I've never been able to shed the readers completely, still needing them for reading charts at night in the airplane
Click to expand...
I may have to brighten the lights for some stuff (like the numbers in the airport data blocks on sectionals), but that's it. Similar problem in dimly lit restaurants with the fine print on menus.
and without them I have to increase the text size on my computer as well.
Click to expand...
No problem with the computer at all.
I imagine I could have the prescription adjusted for more near correction but I was told that my distance correction (currently 20/40 and 20/200 uncorrected, 20/20 corrected) might be worse.
Click to expand...
It took several tries to achieve the necessary balance, but we got there eventually. FWIW, my eye doc says my eyes are most unusual, with a gigantic myopic correction in the right eye with a small astigmatic correction, but much smaller myopic correction in the left with a very large astigmatic correction. She says that by the book, I shouldn't be able fuse the image at all with either glasses or contacts, and because I can do both (and go back and forth with only moments of adaption time), she's thinking of doing a paper on me for presentation at an optometric conference.:crazy:

Also, my large astigmatic correction (over 2 diopters in the left eye) complicates the situation considerably when designing my multifocal contacts. Those without severe astigmatism should have a much easier time of it.
 
Greg Bockelman said:
Ron, I just got done talking about these things with my eye doc office. She seemed to think that the top of the lens was for distance and the bottom for near, sort of like my current progressive lenses. Sounds different from what I hear you saying.
Click to expand...
Right -- those are the old ones. The new ones are toric -- concentric rings of correction so you have full field depth of vision.

The Toric lenses are new enough that they don't know all that much about them. Of course, I didn't actually talk to the doc and she may be better informed on them.
Click to expand...
They aren't that new -- I've had multifocal astigmatic lenses for several years, and the toric non-astigmatics were around for years before that. Grab a pass out to Salisbury MD (you guys can interline with USAir Express/Piedmont, right?) and see my eye doc. She's a real expert (not like the hacks you meet at those big eyeglass stores) with a wall full of international credentials. PM me and I'll get you in touch with her. And I'll give you a ride to her office and take you to the best beer and pizza place on the shore, if not the whole Mid-Atlantic region, for dinner, unless you want crab, in which case we'll go to where you can get the crabs so good they don't get across the Bay.
 
Last edited:
Ron Levy said:
Then why were you trying toric multifocal contact lenses?
Click to expand...

Toric lenses for an astigmatism in my right eye. Not multi-focal. The astigmatism was slight enough that I got by with normal contacts.
 
EdFred said:
Toric lenses for an astigmatism in my right eye. Not multi-focal. The astigmatism was slight enough that I got by with normal contacts.
Click to expand...
OK, we were on different pages. I was not aware that anyone used concentric rings of differing correction for astigmatic correction. When I was wearing single focus contacts, the astigmatic correction was done by varying lens thickness (just like with glasses) and "weighting" the lense to keep the correction aligned,, not different corrections in concentric rings. And that's also how they do it with the toric multifocals with astigmatic correction -- they have to stay "upright" on my eye to work properly.
 
sba55 said:
FWIW, you can get contacts that do this, too. Pretty cool IMO.
Click to expand...
Contacts that darken in bright light? Wow! OTOH, I can see issues in the cockpit if the lenses darken for outside viewing when you try to read stuff inside. I have a pair of sunglasses I use for flying which are darker on top and lighther down low for just that reason. With regular sunglasses, I often have to lift them to read things inside.
 
Old Thread: Hello . There have been no replies in this thread for 365 days.
Content in this thread may no longer be relevant.
Perhaps it would be better to start a new thread instead.
Back
Top