Glasses & contacts and art skating?

[slhallford]

Ok so up until now, I haven't put any really serious work into skating backwards. I've been wearing my glasses for practice and sessions. I've noticed in the past week that I'm getting a little dizzy skating backwards both during the sessions and on the figure circles.

I *think* I've narrowed it down to the loss of my peripheral vision with my glasses. I'm actually blind in my left eye and REALLY nearsighted in my right. I have iffy depth perception which I generally compensate for by watching shadows and lines of light. So, I am not a very happy camper when the turn the lights down at the rink in sessions.

I haven't worn my contacts in at least a year and a half because the meds from my rheumatoid arthritis made my eyes so incredibly dry and miserable with them in. I'm not actually taking those meds anymore so I dug my contacts out tonight to give them a chance to see if it will help.

Does anyone have any special way to deal with eyesight issues while skating? Or advice?

S

[KMA]

Me too!! When I turn to look behind me when I am skating backwards, I look through that space between the frame and my head where there are no lenses. At best I see darkish blobs moving around. What has helped me was the realization that many people when they skate backwards do not look all the way behind them, just enough to not run into others.

I was wondering myself about contacts, I have never worn them, but was thinking they might solve this problem. Could you wear them for the time you are skating?

_______
Katy

[slhallford]

I wore my contacts last night to try them out and get used to them. I'm going to wear them to practice and the session this morning and see if I can feel a difference. I forgot how uncomfortable the hard lenses are when you start wearing them but my astigmatism isn't able to be addressed with soft lenses. I tried a HUGE number of them a few years back in hope of that.

I'll LYK how it goes.

S

[Skatervideoguy]

Hi slhallford & KMA,

If you can wear them, Contacts are by far the best solution.

If you can't, then you might attempt to get a pair of glasses with the largest lenses that you can tolerate. (as in maximum width and height) This is what I do. In some circles my nick name is "Seal Beam", as in Auto Headlights.

Todays plastics keep them very light in weight, unlike decades ago when glass was the standard, and large or thick lenses weighed a ton. That was a Bummer.

I've had low vision - as in no clear vision beyond my nose, for most of my life. I also have the dry eyes issue, plus I'd have to wear glasses to correct what the Contacts could not. (the astigmatism issue) So Contacts are not a solution for me.

Instead of my Bi-Focal or Tri-Focal glasses, I wear single vision glasses when I Skate, to maximize what I can see (like the floor directly in front - or behind me).

As for the Rinks turning the lights down - they shouldn't be doing that in the first place - but ingorance abounds on the lighting issue in most Rinks.

Harold

[slhallford]

Other than adjusting to actually wearing the contacts, they worked great! A huge improvement with much less nervousness looking behind me and turning.

S

[Skatervideoguy]

Hi,

Actually, LASIK is the best option, if you're a good candidate. But not everyone is.

They tell me I'd still have to wear glasses even if I could have the surgery - as even that wouldn't fully correct my vision at this point. Oh Well.

Harold

[Ancient1]

I had LASIK about 7 years ago. Best move I made. It switched my bad far vision and my good near vision. Now I only need glasses to read, and I have XRay vision for distance. Cool beans...

[Skatervideoguy]

Hi Ancient1,

Damn, lucky you !!

Harold

[slhallford]

No Lasik in my future. I can't imagine there is a doctor around that would touch my one good eye. I'd never risk it personally.

S

[Ancient1]

Sarah,
The bad eye is totally blind? Or do you have some vision?

[slhallford]

Originally Posted by Ancient1

Sarah,
The bad eye is totally blind? Or do you have some vision?

Legally blind. I can't read an eye chart at all. I do have a tiny big of extremely blurry peripheral vision on that left eye. It was in vitro damage to my retina. They said some kind of virus probably. I've never known any different so it's not a big deal but I HATE it when they turn all the lights down.

S

[Skatervideoguy]

Hi slhallford,

I HATE it when they turn all the lights down.

This is a section of what I just posted in another thread. I've also got an entire Post on the Lighting issue in the Roller Dance and Session Skating Forum.

This is an example of the ignorance about Lighting and Human Eyesight. That kind of lighting usuage simply goes against what is known about Skating safety and comfortableness. Being able to easily see other skaters and the floor surface, is mandatory for maximum safety.

Rink Lighting is a major concern these days, as many Rinks tried to copy the Disco scene, and put in all sorts of lighting that works nice for Dance Venues, but only brings danger to a Skate Floor, including doing the Low Lite thing.

Harold

[Ancient1]

Sarah,
Real bummer, but it is better to never have the use of that eye than to loose it. But it is still a bummer.
The lighting is a problem for everyone. I also think it is a reason a lot of artistic skaters don't skate many sessions. When the lights are out, then jumps are the most dangerous.

Harold,
You are right. Lighting is all wrong and meant for disco, not skating.

Originally Posted by slhallford

Legally blind. I can't read an eye chart at all. I do have a tiny big of extremely blurry peripheral vision on that left eye. It was in vitro damage to my retina. They said some kind of virus probably. I've never known any different so it's not a big deal but I HATE it when they turn all the lights down.

S

[Ancient1]

I remember when the only time lights went out were "COUPLES ONLY" and when they wanted to clear the floor.

Those were the days.

[Footwork]

Glasses and skating, I finally just took my glasses off, I can see pretty good without glasses. But I found that certain pairs of glasses, I have several. were really causing me issues. One pair really distorted the vision field at the edges of the glasses, it didn't bother me except when skating. It took me a while to understand what was going on?? The walls were moving, and not in ways that made my skating comfortable..

I now skate sans glasses and it's much nicer..I am far sighted, for the most part, so it works for me !!

The world is no longer fall all around me when I'm whizzing around the rink!!

[Nostalgic]

I guess I am lucky. Even though I have worn glasses all my life I have never had problems with sight and skating. My peripheral vision is fairly good and low light has never bothered me. When skating backwards I rely on my peripheral vision and automatically track just about everyone on the floor. I am cross-eyed and have no binocular vision. I constantly switch eyes which may help my peripheral vision.

Most of the artistic skater that I knew did skate sessions.

[DanSchallock]

I agree that when I am working on jumps and the lights go down that it is a hindrance that I have to wait through.
One thing I wanted to mention just to play devil's advocate, and I admit this is easier for me to say not having substantial eye issues, but last Saturday during the session when the lights went down and the colored lights went on for the first time that day there was an audible "wow!" from all the kids present. It made me look around at their faces and smile because I forgot how magical that feels when it's your first time as a kid at a session. It's almost like a little bit of Disneyland or something. Now granted at my rink during these sessions I speak of it isn't overly packed. The local clientele are very well behaved and so smaller numbers of well behaved kids lessens the risk of injury.
So I totally understand and agree with what your saying in principal that low light conditions are a dangerous bad idea for skating. I just wanted to remind everyone that it can be a little piece of magic for the kids when activated during safer times which should originate at the good discretion of the person holding the light controller.

[slhallford]

What really irritates me (as I sit here icing my knee) is that in the dark you can't see the floor. Lily and I were skating the friendship skate, the last one before the session ended when one of us hit something and tripped. I don't know what it was or if it was picked up or if it was a coincidence. We both went down HARD and in the dark, as I got up, I accidentally stepped on one of her fingers. Granted, she really wasn't hurt. But I still felt bad. My knee is bruised and swollen and making me cranky. Thankfully, it was the OTHER knee.

Normally, I wouldn't complain but they had it dark for almost half of the session. That is WAAAAY too long, IMO. Generally, I leave the floor when they turn the lights down like that. And given the extremely high proportion of new skaters yesterday, it was just a bad call.

S

[devlyn76]

Originally Posted by slhallford

I haven't worn my contacts in at least a year and a half because the meds from my rheumatoid arthritis made my eyes so incredibly dry and miserable with them in. I'm not actually taking those meds anymore so I dug my contacts out tonight to give them a chance to see if it will help.

Does anyone have any special way to deal with eyesight issues while skating? Or advice?

S

I have my own eye dryness issues coupled with RCE - recurrent corneal erosion. I can't wear normal contacts anymore because of it. But, the silicone hydrogel type don't dry my eyes at all. Very comfortable. There are several brands and they're all different, but it's worth trying them out.

-ben

[Skatervideoguy]

Hi slhallford,

Where's those Knee Pads ????

Prevention, Prevention, Prevention !!!!

Harold