# Contact lenses and contact sports?



## RobbieMMA (Oct 19, 2008)

I'm as blind as a bat and wear contact lenses, does anyone spar with contacts in?


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## JayC (Jul 16, 2007)

All the time mate. There's a few occasions when they fall out but hardly ever!


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## RobbieMMA (Oct 19, 2008)

Have you ever had any problems with swollen eyes and not being able to get the lens out?

Do you fight with them in?


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## JayC (Jul 16, 2007)

Yep, doesn't make a difference to me...obviously if you get smacked in the eye it's gonna come out, but it just comes straight out


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## SanshouMatt (Jul 1, 2008)

I've never had issues with soft contacts, hard ones could be very dangerous though!


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## Kunoichi (Sep 30, 2007)

Robbie said:


> I'm as blind as a bat and wear contact lenses, does anyone spar with contacts in?


It's basically the reason why I started wearing contact lenses (I believe there's already a thread about the subject). My training last for 2h30, 3 times a week and it's far too longfor my eyes, which are quite sensitive and not moist enough. In fact, ideally I wouldn't even wear contacts as like I said my eyes aren't moist enough (no matter the brand I wear or how much eye drops I get in my friggin eyes) andthey can get really uncomfortable.

As it wasn't enough they may fall out (like JayC said), really dry eyes/lenses makes it thrice as hard to spar with (they pop out like a ping pong ball. It's just an annoying piece of sh!t)

One of the reasons why I quit ninjutsu was because wearing glasses was really NOT helping in any shape or form. BJJ got me in the right track though, despite all the set backs (ie. dryness, redness, tired eyes, and if lating wearing, the odd headache too). You win some, you lose some.


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## spitfire (Apr 19, 2008)

A young lad at my club wears his glasses while doig jj. Within 5 min they are always sticking out his ear round the back of his head. Never where they start off. Mildly funny but upsets the kid no end.


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## Kunoichi (Sep 30, 2007)

spitfire said:


> Within 5 min they are always sticking out his ear round the back of his head. Never where they start off.


ha! ha!


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## JayC (Jul 16, 2007)

And don't worry, when being choked out like a bitch, your lenses will NOT pop out of your eye.


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## Si-K (Jul 23, 2007)

he, he - good picture in my head now Jay...where you their when Big Mike knocked mine out with a right hook - had to spar 2 more rounds with 1 eye...first and last time it ever happened to me.:laugh:


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## NLG (Sep 6, 2007)

Contacts suck ass cant wait to get zpped in the eye by a laser to make it all go away! haha


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## spitfire (Apr 19, 2008)

How about a poke in the eye, that can be done faster and cheaper.


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## RobbieMMA (Oct 19, 2008)

NLG said:


> Contacts suck ass cant wait to get zpped in the eye by a laser to make it all go away! haha


How long before you could fight/spar afterwards though?


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## NLG (Sep 6, 2007)

With the kind of new lasik and whatnot surgery you can get nowadays i think you can get back to it in a matter of weeks.

Have a look up on it, its pretty much everywhere...


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## spitfire (Apr 19, 2008)

my sister in law had it done . she was sound with in a week or so. the first couple of days were very nasty though.


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## Kunoichi (Sep 30, 2007)

NLG said:


> With the kind of new lasik and whatnot surgery you can get nowadays i think you can get back to it in a matter of weeks.


You have to leave 1 month between sessions though - you can't do both eyes at the same time (at least that's what my doctors said) and 4 weeks would be just right.


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## NLG (Sep 6, 2007)

I know of 4 - 5 people who did it and it was both eyes in one session. Otherwise you have one good eye, one bad, so what will you do? Use a single contact for a month???


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## Kunoichi (Sep 30, 2007)

NLG said:


> I know of 4 - 5 people who did it and it was both eyes in one session. Otherwise you have one good eye, one bad, so what will you do? Use a single contact for a month???


My assumption was that it was to avoid being with both eyes f'ed up at the same time, and you could still lead a fairly normal life for the weeks you're recovering, so I didn't dig any further.

I'm pretty sure you can get both done at the same times, but at least my corner of the world's equivalent to the NHS requires 1 month (for 'quality of life' I suppose).


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## SickShaolin (May 25, 2008)

He probably told you to do one at a time in case he messes one up then you've still got the other one...


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## Kunoichi (Sep 30, 2007)

ha ha!


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## NLG (Sep 6, 2007)

haha, yeah probably!


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## RobbieMMA (Oct 19, 2008)

So does anyone actually fight with their contacts in? What would you do if it popped out?

Are there any medical guidelines like in Boxing that say you cannot fight without having a certain level of eyesight??


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## Rich Austin (Dec 9, 2008)

I have always trained and fought in my soft contacts, I used to be an enforcer for bracknell ice Hockey team and had at least one scrap every game lol a few times I had a finger in the eye but you just crack on or be cracked lol

Soft lenses dont tend to pop out as they stick like jelly unless you get poked ;-)


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## SanshouMatt (Jul 1, 2008)

Yeah soft lenses are fine for most sports but in boxing you're screwed under ABA rules, they have a minimum eyesight requirement without lenses in and if you fail then that's it, I think for short sighted it's something like -3 in each eye as I remember. Also if you have corrective surgery they won't let you fight. No rulings as far as I am aware in TMA or MMA so far.


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## Rich Austin (Dec 9, 2008)

There definately is no ruling in this country for MMA as this is not a sanctioned sport as there is no governing body (oooops worms, can) lol

I dont think it should be an issue to fight in soft lenses as they cannot damage your eye even if they move above the eyeball, its uncomfortable yes but not injury threatening, whats the longest you have to go with it in MMA?

Say you get poked in the eye straight after beginning of the round, its a fould so gets stopped, you can remove the lense and carry on til the round break and put a new one in.

If you get it dislodged straight after the start of the round by a legal blow the max you will have to wait is 5 minutes to change it or take it out.

So to be fair there really should not be an issue, not even in Boxing IMO with soft lenses for sure, hard lenses yes I agree totally banned.

Rich


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## SanshouMatt (Jul 1, 2008)

It is a stupid ruling that the ABA went with and as I understand it it was introduced before soft lenses were prevalent and before laser surgery was as common as it is now (lets face it in the early days it was a bit risky). Strangely professional boxing has different rules, I hear that Hatton is blind as a bat.


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## RobbieMMA (Oct 19, 2008)

SanshouMatt said:


> It is a stupid ruling that the ABA went with and as I understand it it was introduced before soft lenses were prevalent and before laser surgery was as common as it is now (lets face it in the early days it was a bit risky). Strangely professional boxing has different rules, I hear that Hatton is blind as a bat.


Really? Now that is interesting, anyone confirm hattons blindness??


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## Kunoichi (Sep 30, 2007)

Robbie said:


> What would you do if it popped out?


Keep fighting 

If you're training obviously stop and sort it out and then go back to whatever you were doing, but otherwise just keep with one lens in and hope for the best eheh

(I tried a couple of times though and I couldn't do it. But then you can pull a Karate Kid: close your eyes and try to submit your oponent by relying on your opponent's body movements rather than in your deceptive eyes eheh I think you can [successfully] pull this in BJJ though)



SanshouMatt said:


> lso if you have corrective surgery they won't let you fight.


uh? Why not? That seems kind of silly, I understand about wearing contacts but if you have corrective surgery you'll have as much advantage as the next guy. In fact, you'll be the 'next guy'. meh


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## SanshouMatt (Jul 1, 2008)

Yeah the corrective surgery thing is ridiculous but them's the rules!


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## Kunoichi (Sep 30, 2007)

SanshouMatt said:


> Yeah the corrective surgery thing is ridiculous but them's the rules!


Do you have 'declare' these things? They can always pull a tax evasion and convenientely forget to mention past surgeries


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## SanshouMatt (Jul 1, 2008)

Doc checks you over pretty thoroughly, light in the eyes is a giveaway with lenses and surgery.


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