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Clean hands for contact lenses while wild camping

Clean hands for contact lenses while wild camping


Postby booms » Wed Apr 21, 2021 11:58 am

Hi all,

Interested if anyone has any experience of this.

I normally wear dailies, and at home I really scrupulously clean and rinse my hands but not sure what to do when I'm wild camping in the middle of nowhere.

Wet-wipes? Don't want to end up putting some strange cleaning solvent off a wetwipe in my eye. Don't want to wear glasses either! Any tips?
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Re: Clean hands for contact lenses while wild camping

Postby AyrshireAlps » Wed Apr 21, 2021 1:09 pm

A running burn and alcohol hand gel? A pair of disposable gloves?
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Re: Clean hands for contact lenses while wild camping

Postby Sgurr » Wed Apr 21, 2021 1:36 pm

Reconsider glasses. You won't break or lose them if you put them in one of those handy pockets inside the tent. Worked for me.
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Re: Clean hands for contact lenses while wild camping

Postby rgf101 » Wed Apr 21, 2021 3:06 pm

I go for glasses, after having to pick up a lens from a gravel path and pop it back in, but I'd be happy with the alcohol gel and burn suggestion. Your hands'll be freezing, mind.

You might want to look at continuous wear lenses - you can sleep in them for up to a month. Even if you don't get on with them long term, might be useful for a few days in the hills.
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Re: Clean hands for contact lenses while wild camping

Postby Marty_JG » Wed Apr 21, 2021 3:39 pm

  • Boil water
  • Let water cool
  • Wash hands
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Re: Clean hands for contact lenses while wild camping

Postby booms » Wed Apr 21, 2021 5:49 pm

rgf101 wrote:I go for glasses, after having to pick up a lens from a gravel path and pop it back in, but I'd be happy with the alcohol gel and burn suggestion. Your hands'll be freezing, mind.

You might want to look at continuous wear lenses - you can sleep in them for up to a month. Even if you don't get on with them long term, might be useful for a few days in the hills.


Ha, thanks, I've been using continuous wear for years and in the past few months can't tolerate them anymore. Which is a right pain as I suddenly have problems like these to fix!

What does the 'burn' part of that mean please?
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Re: Clean hands for contact lenses while wild camping

Postby AdamR » Wed Apr 21, 2021 6:46 pm

I wear glasses most of the time but when i'm hiking, on holiday or doing sport wear contact lenses. I don't routinely wear them this way but I can keep these in for several days at a time including while sleeping without having to take them out. If my eyes get slightly dry I just add a couple of drops of saline.

The lenses are Air Optix Night & Day Aqua and are designed to be worn this way. Try a sample at your opticians (free)
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Re: Clean hands for contact lenses while wild camping

Postby NickyRannoch » Wed Apr 21, 2021 10:10 pm

I also wear dailies and never bother with anything.

The solution they are in is plenty protection between your finger and the lense and the bit that goes on your pupil isnt the bit you are touching anyway.
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Re: Clean hands for contact lenses while wild camping

Postby simon-b » Wed Apr 21, 2021 10:33 pm

How poor is your uncorrected eyesight? Obviously some people can't manage without corrected vision. But I used to wear contacts, then started having issues with them on hillwalking trips, so I took them out, and outside in broad daylight, found that I managed fine without them. So then I stopped wearing them so much on hills and just carried a pair of glasses in my sack for concentrated viewing when needed. Especially in bright weather, both distance vision and reading seem much clearer when outdoors.
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Re: Clean hands for contact lenses while wild camping

Postby Marty_JG » Thu Apr 22, 2021 2:11 am

Different folks, different strokes. My vision is 2x better with contacts than even the best glasses.
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Re: Clean hands for contact lenses while wild camping

Postby Glengavel » Thu Apr 22, 2021 7:58 am

My unprotected eyesight is pretty poor. When not wearing glasses I use daily disposables (with additional reading glasses for fine print) and rarely do anything more than a cursory rinse of the hands before insertion or removal (unless I've been gardening or suchlike). Your tears contain lysozyme, a natural anti-microbial agent, which probably helps keep infections at bay.
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Re: Clean hands for contact lenses while wild camping

Postby AyrshireAlps » Thu Apr 22, 2021 8:13 am

What does the 'burn' part of that mean please?


A burn is a gill or a brook for the enlightened. :wink:
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Re: Clean hands for contact lenses while wild camping

Postby booms » Thu Apr 22, 2021 10:57 am

AyrshireAlps wrote:
What does the 'burn' part of that mean please?


A burn is a gill or a brook for the enlightened. :wink:


Ah! My Google search of the word 'burn' and 'alcohol gel' produced some pretty horrible results!
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Re: Clean hands for contact lenses while wild camping

Postby widdershins » Thu Apr 22, 2021 12:32 pm

I use daily disposables on multi-day hikes to save faffing with lens solution. I give my hands a going-over with a wet wipe at night before taking them out, and a quick handwash with a trickle of water from my bottle and a drop of castile soap before putting in fresh lenses for the day. It's been fine so far.
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Re: Clean hands for contact lenses while wild camping

Postby penelope1 » Thu Apr 22, 2021 1:12 pm

On the subject of eyes, I don't usually bother wearing glasses when out on the hills in bright daylight. But last weekend up on the hills above Tyndrum, the wind was blowing dust and bits of vegetation everywhere due to the dry conditions. I got some bits in one eye and it was excrutiately painful for several hours afterwards. I'm thinking it might be a good idea to wear wraparound sun/glasses at present until we can get some decent rainfall.
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