People with poor eyesight need to have special aid in the form of prescription glasses or contact lenses. Even having slightly impaired vision is often inconvenient in day-to-day life, and wearing the right glasses improves your experience immensely. There are specialised glasses for reading, driving, and many other occasions. One of them is swimming. Only people with defective vision would know how inconvenient it is to swim in the pool, ocean, or anywhere else without seeing your surroundings clearly. To deal with this inconvenience, special prescription goggles were invented. Professional swimmers with visual impairment wear them, but amateur swimmers who go to the pool a few times a year can also benefit from them greatly.
About Prescription Goggles for Swimmers
Everyone knows about swimming goggles that allow seeing underwater. They are a necessity for professional athletes and a popular accessory for amateur swimmers and kids at the pool. Little do people know that specialised goggles with prescriptions exist to accommodate people with visual impairment.
Just like prescription glasses or shades, it is possible to order custom-made or purchase prescription swimming goggles. They have special lenses that perform their primary function of protecting eyes underwater and help people with nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism.
Swimming Goggles Lenses
Prescription goggles come with diopters much like glasses and contact lenses. Based on your requirements, there are positive and negative diopter goggles. Even if you need different strengths for each eye, you should be able to find appropriate options. Sportswear brands offer ready-made prescription goggles in a variety of styles and strengths. You can pick the ones closest to your prescription. As swimming goggles are not worn on a daily basis, you should be able to pick ones that do not match your prescription perfectly.
If you want to have precise prescription swimming goggles, you can order them at an optical store. You will need your prescription to place an order. You can use a prescription you already have or receive a new one by visiting an ophthalmologist. Custom-made goggles allow choosing the right prescription for lenses and the style that will suit you best.
The Variety of Prescription Goggle Models
Swimming goggles come in a variety of models to suit the various needs of professional athletes and recreational swimmers. Prescription goggles might be less diverse in styles, although they continue improving, and many options are available Here are some options that you can find:
- Racing goggles – These are special swimming goggles that most athletes use for competitive swimming. They are smaller and often come with a range of additional features, such as anti-fog coating, UV protection, and more.
- Recreational goggles – These goggles are suitable for everyone. They are more convenient to wear as they have more padding and wider peripheral vision. They also come with fewer additional features unlike racing goggles, thus becoming more affordable.
- Prescription lenses – Certain brands offer lenses separately to insert them into fitting goggle frames. Make sure that your goggles and frames are compatible before ordering.
- Half lenses – Some brands create lenses with only the bottom half that has diopters.
If you are unsure about choosing the right goggles, you can read reviews online and consult your ophthalmologist.
The Benefits of Prescription Goggles
Choosing prescription goggles instead of swimming with your glasses, contacts, or no glasses at all has multiple benefits. Here are some of the key advantages:
- Underwater vision – The most obvious advantage is the ability to see underwater clearly. Without the goggles, it might be disorienting or even dangerous if you cannot see where you swim and collide with other people or objects.
- Comfort – It is inconvenient to wear glasses while swimming. Wearing contact lenses is only possible when paired with swimming goggles, as swimming in lenses can be dangerous due to infections getting into your eyes. However, even goggles might let some water in and reach the contacts. Wearing prescription goggles eliminates all these issues.
- UV protection – Although not all prescription goggles have it, swimmers who spend a lot of time swimming outdoors might want to purchase such goggles to protect their eyes from harmful UV rays.
- Customisation – You can order goggles that will fit your specifications.
Prescription goggles greatly improve your swimming experience.