Take your contacts out while swimming

As warm weather brings people back to fresh-water recreation, people who wear contact lenses should remember to remove them before they swim in ponds, lakes or rivers, doctors at UT Southwestern Medical Center say.There's an amoeba — Acanthamoeba — that may live in those waters that can bind to contact lenses, causing serious cornea damage, says Dr Dwight Cavanaugh, vice chairman of ophthalmology at UT Southwestern.These infections are quite rare, but if they're not treated, they can lead to blindness or require a cornea transplant. See a physician if the wearer's eyes become red and sore and there is decreased vision."People who wear their contact lenses while taking a shower, who use tap water to remove debris from their lenses or who go swimming in ponds or lakes have an increased chance of becoming infected with this organism," Dr. Cavanagh says. "The amoeba can bind to the contact lens and cause irreparable damage to the cornea."Contact lense wearers shouldn't even relax in a hot tub without first removing their lenses.

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