Catherine from Pullman asks is it ok to snorkel with contact lenses on?

Catherine, it is ok to snorkel with your contact lenses on but take a couple extra precautions. First, depending on what kind of water you a snorkeling in, it is a very good idea to clean them when you are done. The top layer of any body of water usually had all kinds of interesting bacteria and protozoa floating in so if that gets into your eye, your contact lens can hang on to, leading to infection. Taking the lenses out and cleaning them well gives your eye a chance to recover from any trauma and makes the contacts safer for continued wear. Second and probably more important, make sure you take at least one extra pair of contacts with you. I’m assuming your aren’t snorkeling in the mighty Palouse River, and that you have planned this snorkeling trip for some time. You wouldn’t want to miss out seeing things due to a wave splashing your contacts out. Usually, common sense rules the day with contact lenses, but it never hurts to plan for a problem and be ready to deal with it. Thanks for the question.