Advice needed from people who wear glasses

[Philpug]

Paging @John Webb to the Pugski Courtesy Phone.

 

[Jason Kurth]

on glasses vs contacts

Contacts without question- you can not beat them in terms of field of view and lack of distortion, not to mention no fog problems. My glasses distort around the edges quite a bit where straight lines look bent and there's no avoiding it.

I've never had any issues with them shifting or drying out skiing, but I use daily soft lenses (accuvue moist). If it's been a while since you tried contacts consider giving a modern soft lens a try.

 

[mdf]

Different goggles have different air flow patterns. Also some goggles flow more air than others. May have to try a few to find the optimal pair for your eyes.

I have had problems with dry eyes, especially going fast on run-outs. For awhile I was alternating closing one eye. I started joking I was going to start keeping both eyes closed. I switched to a different model of soft contacts and they are better. I also taped over about 90% of the vents on my goggles.

 

[cosmoliu]

I've experienced all the challenges listed above, being as near sighted as Phil at about 6 diopters in each eye. I had so much trouble with googles fogging that I wore mountaineering sunglasses with Rx replacement lenses by my friendly local optician for everything short of white out conditions. I highly recommend the Julbo Micropore sunglasses for that. I bought them from Backcountry.com 10+ years ago and Julbo USA has been great at sending me replacement pieces as they have worn out. They seem to be harder to come by the last couple of years, but these came up in a brief search:
https://www.amazon.com/Julbo-MICROPORE-Micropore-Mountain-Sunglasses/dp/B000STM2GI
I see that Julbo has other similar glasses, and other manufacturers like Bolle would probably work as well. The key feature is the leather side guards to keep the eyes from tearing up at Mach Stupid speeds.

As far as when goggles were absolutely necessary, I had great luck with Smith goggles and the Smith Rx insert, which I highly recommend:
https://www.thewarmingstore.com/smi...baUvJZnwdcNWpEGwhkHGWI0tZY_XeTEUaAkp8EALw_wcB

You can also get them directly from Smith. No clue as to why they are 3X more expensive from Smith:
https://www.smithoptics.com/us/Root/Men's/Prescription/Lifestyle/ODS3/p/RXODS3/prescription

They match up with the several Smith models that have little tabs in the nose to take the inserts, including the Prophecy mentioned above. Also the I/OX. Note that the Smith I/O googles DO NOT have the tabs, so you need to make yourself familiar with the line before going that route. A call to Smith customer service would be time well spent. I've seen the SportRX google insert online before and while they look like they should work OK, I have no experience with them. I can say that the Smith/Smith combination works like a charm. The Smith solution was recommended to me by a skier I met at Jackson Hole about 7 years ago, ending 25+ years of goggle hatred.

 

[KingGrump]

I was going to start keeping both eyes closed.

I did noticed your skiing was a bit erratic during Mother's Day. That explains it.
No worse than skiing at W/B.

 

[EricG]

Could you post of picture of how this works inside your goggles?

Here’s a couple. You don’t see anything from outside, but you get a nice full coverage lens inside. I use progressive lenses.

 

[Seldomski]

I do appreciate all of the great info in this thread. My Zeal goggles are great, but about 15 years old. I will need to replace them soon as some of the foam is starting to disintegrate and the elastic is getting pretty weak. I started looking for replacement goggles with the thought I could get something glasses compatible. I didn't know they actually made glasses that were goggle compatible. Pretty cool stuff!

I don't own any contact lenses currently. I tried using them about 20 years ago, but found them to be much more annoying than glasses. I also tend to run 'hot' when I ski. So blocking off vents on my goggles will probably be no good. I may experiment a bit with it and see how that goes. Currently I have zero fogging issues with my goggles, which is a bit of a miracle I think.

 

[EricG]

@Seldomski - the Smith IO/X with RX insert has been great. It’s simple and effective. Plus you can always swap out lenses quick. I purchased the Smith case and keep my 4 lenses all in the case.

 

[Pat AKA mustski]

I ski blurry on sunny days. Storm days or flat light gets contacts. I sweat profusely - goggles are always on the edge of fogging - no way will glasses work.

I struggle to get contacts in. Many famous words in the morning. Some contacts are easier than others. Try several.

I now pull them out right after skiing - especially if I will need them the next day. Clean hands and lots of water keep the irritation to a minimum.

Eric

Although the new daily wear contacts are amazingly comfortable ... Yup. I take mine out in the car before the hubby even starts it up. I use daily wear and they do not annoy me while skiing. My hang up is that I can't see my phone or my hubby clearly when close up! That is why I avoid Lasik, the doc pointed out that my hubby would be blurry during all *cough* intimate, close up moments. That's a big no!

Contacts and reading glasses for the lodge.............skiing is the only time I bother with contacts anymore.

Me too and then only when necessary.

I use Wiley X Tide sunglasses - the RX version. They have a replaceable foam insert and come with a couple of good cords for securing to the head. The vision is fantastic with these. My doc puts in a smaller than usually reading area as the progressive goes. They were intended for water sports and fishing, but are polarized and great on snow. Again, I ski mostly western areas so there are a fair amount of sunny/partly sunny days in my ski life. On stormy or low light days, I am way more concerned with seeing while skiing than I am about anything else. I learned to ski by Braille and my progression was slow!

 

[princo]

Here’s a couple. You don’t see anything from outside, but you get a nice full coverage lens inside. I use progressive lenses.

Thanks for the pictures. I currently wear a hybrid contact in one eye and a toric in another (which I can tolerate for about 6 hrs). Getting fitted for scleral lenses, but that looks like an option if those don't work.

 

[river-z]

I have always worn glasses while skiing since I don't care for contacts. I have some cheap over-the-glasses ski goggles that I wear when the weather is cloudy, windy, snowy, and/or really cold. But I have found that here in SoCal and the Sierra prescription sunglasses work just fine. In fact, I much prefer them to goggles. Most of the ski-days I get here in CA are sunny so it works well. On the rare occasion when it's cold/windy + sunny I wear the sun glasses under the goggles.

I don't know what kind of weather you normally get in your area but good prescription sunglasses are what I use 90% of the time.

 

[TheHitman]

So, the prescription google inserts. Won't they fog up like glasses?

Isn't it just glasses under your goggles?

 

[Jim McDonald]

Inserts are further away from the heat and moisture of the face, whereas glasses trap that and prevent venting.

 

[cosmoliu]

So, the prescription google inserts. Won't they fog up like glasses?

Isn't it just glasses under your goggles?

In short- no. At least not as badly. I believe that it is because they are a little further from the eyeballs than glasses, so further from the source of moisture causing the fogging. And the insert/goggle combination is much more comfortable than the glasses/goggle combination because the inserts lack the nose pads which dig in to the sides of the nose as every bounce forces the top of the goggles to impact the top of the glasses.

 

[coops]

Contact lenses are the easiest solution... and soft disposable are not too expensive, comfortable and you will quickly find them easy to insert and remove so don't let that worry you.

There are some options though, as it sounds like you're now getting presbyopia... the near vision reading issues etc.

1. If one of your eyes is naturally a bit short sighted, let's say around -0.5 to maximum -1... then you could opt to only use ONE contact lens in the other eye to correct it to 20/20 and leave the other short sighted for near vision reading. This is a common technique referred to as monovision - can be done with Lasik too, bit more permanent though... or if both eyes need correcting then your optometrist can specify one lens to under correct to leave it effectively short sighted to achieve the same outcome.
2. Get contacts for both eyes designed for presbyopia - daily disposable presbyopia specific are available so you could correct both eyes with the lens giving you ability to read at near distances... although the distance might/will be slightly worse than the best possible without any presbyopia correction...
3. Get 'Presby Lasik' done - like Lasik but the correction is made to correct one eye more for near and medium distance and the other for medium and far.

 

[Pacobillie]

I wear contacts for skiing and all other sports such as cycling, golf, shooting and hunting. The last time I wore glasses while skiing was a day with light freezing rain. It was absolute hell. After trying contacts I have never looked back.

 

[zephyr17]

I bought goggle inserts and they are probably the best single thing I ever bought for skiing. They do not fog up anywhere nearly as bad as my glasses did, and when I treat them occasionally with no fog, every few ski days, they pretty much don't at all. I don't have to wipe down my glasses at the beginning of each run any more like I did. Goggles are not jamming my glasses into my face, and so are more comfortable. Got mine from SportsRX, too. The expense is in the lenses, the plastic insert itself only cost $15.

One thing skiing with foggy glasses did was teaching me to keep my legs loose and balance centered to just handle what my skis were running into, because I often couldn't see it.

 

[karlo]

I use Anon goggles over glasses, the goggles with magnetic snap on lens. Works great. The troublesome thing is, when swapping in and out of prescription sunglasses, there'a one more thing to deal with, the clear glasses. But, contacts bother my eyes, and I don't want to do Lasik

 

[EricG]

So, the prescription google inserts. Won't they fog up like glasses?

Isn't it just glasses under your goggles?

The only fogging issue I had was with the goggle (not the insert) when my Marker helmet blocked the air flow to the top of the goggle. No issues with my other helmet.

Thanks for the pictures. I currently wear a hybrid contact in one eye and a toric in another (which I can tolerate for about 6 hrs). Getting fitted for scleral lenses, but that looks like an option if those don't work.

Ask your eye dr about this as an option. They were only $150-200 for the insert with lenses.

 

[Shawn C.]

I’ve gotta say thanks to the multiple posters who suggested readers over their contacts for the lodge. I’ve been wearing contacts since last season because of my deteriorating distance-vision. Iit is hard to scope out lines and /or identify birds while riding the lift. Yeah, I’m weird.
I thought readers on top of wearing contacts would be like a matter/anti-matter type of reaction so I never considered it. I can’t see a damned thing in the lodge with my contacts but I do like skiing with them for the improved pow-scopage ability.
Thanks!