Prescription Swim Goggles - Goggles with optical corrective lenses for swimming

Prescription Swimming Goggles

INDEX

FAQ

WHERE DO I BUY GOGGLES AND WHAT TYPE DO I BUY?

As we all come in different shapes and sizes, there will be different goggles for everyone. You can buy direct from our on line store, or check our our resellers list page to find a optical stores near you. Goggles should fit snugly around the eye, and you should feel a slight suck. You may need to try on a number of different models and styles until you find ones that are both comfortable, and watertight on you. the best fitted goggles should be stick on your face by its suction without using the headband.

WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO CHOOSE AND CARE FOR SWIMWEAR?

Swimwear is probably the most personal choice a child gets in swimming. They can choose any style, colour, and material they want, as long as it is comfortable and suitable for training. Some brands of swimwear use an ‘endurance’ type material, which can withstand the chemicals of chlorine for much longer than the usual lyrca material. They are more expensive, but in the time you have one pair of endurance, you could go through 3 or 4 pairs of Lycra bathers. Caring for your child’s swimwear will increase the life of the apparel. The best way to look after swimwear is to rinse them with cold water after training, and hanging them out to drip dry in a shady place.

SWIMMING IN THE WINTER

As with any skill, not practicing swimming can be detrimental to both the skills and also fitness levels. It is important that swimmers do not lose this simply due to the climate. As a general rule, indoor pools are heated, and therefore if your child is training at an indoor pool, the weather should have a minimal impact on their swimming development.

It is, however important to make sure that your child has clean and dry underwear and clothes to change in to after a pool session. Always keeping a spare pair of underwear and socks in their sports bag may be a way to ensure they never walk out wet into the cold weather.

What is astigmatism?

Like short sightedness or long sightedness, astigmatism is an optical condition of the eye. It occurs when one of the optical components, usually the cornea, is shaped like an egg, ie. more curved in one direction than the other. The ideal shape is like a soccer ball with the same curve throughout. The difference in the curves means that each meridian of the eye focuses light differently on to the retina and vision is not clear. Astigmatism is most often combined with myopia or hyperopia. The condition can be corrected with spectacles or contact lenses.

What is Myopia?

Someone who is myopic, or shortsighted, will have difficulty seeing distant objects clearly. Myopia is very common and often begins to develop in teenage years, though many individuals become affected earlier than this. The exact causes for myopia are unknown, but the condition can easily be corrected with spectacles, or contact lenses. Laser surgery is also becoming a popular alternative for myopic vision correction.

What is Hyperopia?

Hyperopia, or "longsightedness" is a condition which makes it difficult for patients to work comfortably at a close range. For some people close range is blurred and glasses are required. For others, objects at close range may be clear, but more effort is required to focus. These people may tire more quickly and experience difficulty concentrating when conducting tasks such as reading.

What is Presbyopia?

Presbyopia is an age related progressive condition that makes it difficult to focus objects at near. The first signs of this condition are often difficulty in focusing on phone directories, reading maps or threading needles even though distance vision is still good. Almost all people notice this problem creeping up on them after their 40th birthday, though some will be affected earlier than this. Presbyopia is caused by a progressive loss of elasticity of the crystalline lens inside the eye. This loss starts early in life but only creates practical difficulties at around 40 years of age. Currently only spectacles or contact lenses solve the problems that presbyopia creates.

What is Monovision?

Many options are available when fitting a presbyope (a person with presbyopia) who is having problems with their near vision. In some cases people are happy to use contact lenses for their distance visual needs and to have a pair of spectacles for use at near. However most people who desire contact lenses do so for the reason that they prefer not to wear spectacles at all.

Monovision provides the simplest method of addressing both the distance and near visual needs with contact lenses by employing a distance correction in one eye and a near correction in the other eye. Monovision is well suited to the very early to moderately advanced presbyope who has a strong need for good near vision. When the patient's main task involves the need for good binocular (two-eyed) distance vision then alternative techniques should be considered.

What is an Ophthalmologist?

Ophthalmologists are medical eye specialists. They are doctors who, after completing medical school, have undergone further specialised training in eye pathology and surgery. In order to see an ophthalmologist, a referral is usually required from an optometrist or general practitioner.

What is Orthokeratology?

Orthokeratology (or Ortho-K) is the programmed use of specially designed contact lenses to improve unaided vision by reshaping the cornea (front surface of the eye). Myopic (short-sight) and astigmatic (irregular surface) errors of the eye may be reduced or eliminated.

Ortho-K lenses are worn while sleeping and removed on waking. They have a unique design, which generates pressure in the thin layer of tears under the lens. This gentle tear pressure, rather than the lens itself, is responsible for the subtle change in corneal shape. This alteration in corneal shape is associated with improvement in uncorrected vision. Ortho-K lenses are highly oxygen permeable so treatment can proceed during sleep without the problems caused by a lack of oxygen to the cornea.

What is Glaucoma?

Glaucoma is a condition in which nerve cells in the retina become damaged. These nerve cells are important in transmitting information about what we see to the brain. One of the risk factors for this condition is elevated pressure in the eye. Patients with advanced stages of the condition suffer from loss in peripheral vision, or "tunnel vision" and may ultimately lose all vision. Unfortunately, damage to the nerve cells is not reversible. There are not usually any symptoms associated with the condition initially, so this makes it important for everyone, particularly for those aged over 40, or with a family history of glaucoma to have regular eye examinations.

What is a Cataract?

Cataract is a loss of transparency of the clear crystalline lens inside the eye. This can make it difficult to see clearly or to distinguish colours. Cataracts may be uniform throughout the lens or particular areas of the lens may be affected. Once present changes in transparency are irreversible. Causes can be age, UV damage, other eye conditions, trauma, medication induced or unknown. Treatment is usually the removal of the lens and replacement by a plastic substitute (intra ocular lens). This has had a very high success rate for a number of years.

What are Multifocal lenses?

Multifocal contact lenses are lenses intended to allow clear vision at several, or all, distances, i.e. far, intermediate (computer monitors, music scores, things located at arm's length) and near (reading, sewing, writing). They are useful to people who, usually by virtue of their age (greater than 40), need some assistance with their vision at one or more of these distances.

The simplest multifocal is the bifocal. This is a contact lens, or spectacle lens, that has two separate optical zones. Each of these has a different power (the prescriptions), allowing vision at two distances, usually, far and near. Often the efficacy of a bifocal decreases as the user ages and eventually the vision is found to be inadequate at distances between near and far. In spectacles this can be overcome by the incorporation of a third optical zone whose power is in between those of the distance and near zones, e.g. trifocals. However, in contact lenses this is almost never done because of the size of the lens and the relatively small amount of on-eye lens movement.

An alternative form of lens (contact or spectacle) is the Progressive Addition Lens or PAL which has a continuously variable power that ranges from that required for distance vision all the way to that required for near.

What is Keratoconus?

Keratoconus is a condition affecting the cornea that causes thinning of the tissue and a resulting protrusion of the front surface into a cone-like shape. Vision is severely distorted and the use of specially designed rigid gas permeable (RGP) lenses is required. In very advanced cases a corneal graft may be necessary to improve the visual capability.