[pct-l] 2 Q's: Contact lenses and search feature

[Suzannah Swinehart]

Hi Sarah,

As a section hiker I haven't had to deal with contacts on the trail long term, but I did backpack for many years 
with them and finally came down to the ultimate solution: LASIK. I finally got over my fear, bit the bullet and 
did it in May, before my last summer's section hike, and ooooh was it nice. My dad and brother are now quite 
jealous when I roll over and say "goodnight!" as they prepare to deal with their contacts. Especially since I 
make sure to rub it in.

Anyway, on to some more practical suggestions for your hike, as you probably aren't going under the laser
anytime soon:

If you ask really nicely, you may be able to get the little 2 oz. sample bottles of solution from your eye dr.
for free. This cuts down on the amount of solution you need to carry at a time - just put a new bottle in your
resupply box from time to time. As with everything, if you test it out ahead of time you should be able to get 
a decent idea of how long a bottle will last. You can even refill them if you're really tricky, but this would 
involve keeping a big bottle in a bounce box...and it takes some work.

To stretch the bottles out, I didn't rinse out my contact case *Every Night* like you're supposed to. I'd go 
several nights. With your eye history, you may not feel comfortable doing this. It is really, really, really 
hard to get your hands anywhere resembling clean enough to want to stick in your eye. Given how long it took 
me off-trail to get them clean again, I'd say probably impossible. I wouldn't be so concerned with visible dirt, 
as long as you rinse your hands as well as you can - then use a few drops of sanitizer to de-germ them, then 
rinse again. I know rinsing can be hard in water shortage areas but do the best you can.

Always carry one set of extra contacts, or if your prescriptions are pretty close, at least one extra contact. 
Nothing is worse than having one rip when you're miles from anywhere. I would keep another full set in a bounce 
bucket. Plus, you'll obviously need them regularly in your resupply boxes for normal replacement.

I should probably stop there, as I was not the world's most responsible contact lens wearer, despite having done 
it for about 18 years. :)

-Chipmunk

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