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Contact lenses for skiing

If you love skiing, snowboarding or other winter sports, you know how important it is to protect your eyes. You should be extra careful to protect your vision with all outdoor activities, but this is especially true for skiing and winter sports - where your eyesight needs to be protected even more. The white snow reflects up to 80% of sun rays, and for every 1,000 feet of altitude, the UV ray ratio increases by 10%. And that's a serious matter, as prolonged exposure to UV rays can lead to eye irritation and even cornea burns.

Besides, when flying down the slopes you want to enjoy perfectly clear all-round vision to react in the blink of an eye to any eventuality. Sports and contact lenses are always a great combination, so if you want to be perfectly equipped for your trips to the slopes, the best solution is skiing with contact lenses: daily, two-weekly, monthly, or toric and multifocal. We'll tell you why.

Advice for skiing with contact lenses

Contact lenses provide you with crisper and better peripheral vision. They're also compatible with headwear and all types of weather - so they won't get in the way, unlike glasses.
Choose contact lenses with a high UV filter to ensure you're protected against harmful light.
Always combine your contact lenses with quality sunglasses or goggles for total eye safety.

Skiing with contact lenses vs glasses

Whether you are a regular at ski resorts, or enjoy the occasional alpine getaway, skiing with contact lenses is your best choice to experience perfect vision and total freedom of movement. As you know, it is not particularly practical to wear goggles on top of your glasses, and getting goggles with a prescription can be notoriously expensive. Given this, you might be reluctant to replace your prescription goggles if your vision requirements change, posing a possible safety hazard.

In addition to this, prescription skiing goggles or glasses can restrict your view in many ways, and not just because they offer limited peripheral vision. Prescription goggles and glasses are more likely to be affected by the weather, such as when it snows or rains. They can easily steam up, especially when you hop on a gondola lift, preventing you from enjoying the view. Glasses in particular can also bounce up and down, and you even run the risk of breaking them while going down the pistes.

Contact lenses, on the other hand, are totally compatible with all kinds of headwear and weather. Additionally, whether you're looking down the slope, or at that other skier behind you from the corner of your eye, you will always have a full field of vision. With contact lenses,, you won't need to spend all your money on prescription goggles/glasses that may change in the future. Lastly, and most importantly, many contact lenses include high levels of UV protection, which are ideal for sunny days in the snow.

Best contact lenses for skiing? Choose models with UV protection

As much as you enjoy skiing on lovely bright days, it's important to be aware of the risks that it entails, especially being so far from ground level. Don't be fooled by the cold temperatures: Snow reflects up to 80% of sunlight, and the proportion of UV rays (UV-A and UV-B) increases as the altitude increases. All this can be very damaging to your eyes, causing extra strain, sunburn or even cornea damage. Just as your skin needs to be protected with suncream, your eyes also have to be shielded from the effect of the sun.

Fortunately, many contact lens models already include UV protection. There are two UV blocking classifications according to the levels of UV they are able to block:

Class 1: Contact lenses blocking 90% of UV-A and 99% of UV-B
Class 2: Contact lenses blocking 70% of UV-A and 95% of UV-B

Whether you use daily contact lenses for your occasional mountain escapes or monthly contact lenses for more regular use, there's an option for you. For example, Acuvue Oasys 1-DAY with HydraLuxe, Avaira Vitality or Acuvue Oasys for Astigmatism offer Class 1 UV protection. For a Class 2 protection, you can choose everclear ELITE, Clariti 1 Day Toric or Biotrue ONEday for Presbyopia.

More on contact lenses with UV filter

Recommended lenses: everclear ACTIVE

Exclusive to Vision Direct, everclear ACTIVE is tailored for those who are always on the go. Designed with smaller packaging, these dailies fit perfectly in the pocket of your skiing jacket or snowsuit. everclear ACTIVE also allows a full field of vision, so you can ski safely around others while enjoying the views in front of you. You can just pop in your lenses when you're putting on your skiing gear, and then bin them once you're back from the slopes.

everclear ACTIVE contact lenses are made of silicone hydrogel, a breathable material that allows plenty of oxygen to reach the eyes and ensures a secure fit. In addition, they provide UV protection, which gives your eyes extra protection against harmful UV-A and UV-B rays, especially considering the additional danger of snow glare.

Discover everclear ACTIVE

Combine contact lenses with skiing sunglasses or goggles

Contact lenses with UV protection are of great help when skiing, snowboarding or doing any other winter sport. However, it's never a bad idea to protect your eyes even further, so we'd always recommend you wear snow sunglasses or goggles over your lenses.

What models are the best? Depending on how often you go skiing, the weather that day or your personal preferences, there's a wide range of options - regular sunglasses or goggles, category 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4, UV cylindrical or spherical lenses, lighter or darker tints, mirrored or polarized. However, no matter what, ensure they are from an approved manufacturer and they offer the right kind of UV protection your eyes need.

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Reorder in 3 clicks

365-day guarantee

Next day delivery

Reorder in 3 clicks

365-day guarantee

Next day delivery

Reorder in 3 clicks

365-day guarantee

Next day delivery

Contact lenses for skiing

Advice for skiing with contact lenses

Skiing with contact lenses vs glasses

Best contact lenses for skiing? Choose models with UV protection

Recommended lenses: everclear ACTIVE

Combine contact lenses with skiing sunglasses or goggles

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