Comments on: When you get out of the pool, why is your vision filmy and cloudy? Does this damage your eyes?

By: Betty - York, Pa.

Betty - York, Pa. — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 14:56:37 +0000

Yesterday after swimming at the gym, without goggles, I had a scary experince
with my eyes. At first I thought my glasses needed to be cleaned which was not
the case. It was though I was looking through a smoke filled room and after 5
hours of this I was starting to panic, concerned that maybe I had damaged my
eyes. I called my eye doctor and he said to get Systane (a lubricant eye drop). This really helped me and I just wanted to pass on some info that maybe
could help the next person.

By: Rebekah

Rebekah — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 03:21:15 +0000

Ummm… just so you all know, salt water pools are still chlorinated, the chlorine is just in the salt (Sodium Chloride) Its just a process of breaking the salt into sodium and chlorine, and the sodium can actually be more irritating than chlorine. Rinsing your eyes with pasteurized milk helps a lot with stinging eyes, it seems silly but it feels really good.

By: Dee

Dee — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 02:02:20 +0000

I have worked at a pool for 8 years and experience this effect regularly with no long term damage. I do notice that my eyes burn the most when the pool is cloudy from sunscreen and a lot of swimmers. The pH is a huge contributer as well as the dissolved solids count which all can irritate the eyes. On crowded days its the equivalent of spraying sunscreen in your eyes. Wear googles and use eye drops before and after swimming to reduce the pain.

By: Bernie

Bernie — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 01:40:17 +0000

There are alternatives to chlorinating pools, oxygenation can be extremely effective. So can saline. Even for large public pools, used by large numbers of people, it is possible to reduce the amount of chlorine greatly (some states or cities have minimums) and have a much safer swimming environment without irritation. I don’t know why more pools don’t do this–but definitely consumers should demand more. It makes no sense to be eating organic and then swimming in heavy chlorine!

By: Alichem

Alichem — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 18:10:28 +0000

I also experienced the same thing. When I got our of the pool I was feeling like in dense smog. It was first time for me and I thought like I lost my vision. I was so scared I rushed to room had a fresh cool water shower but did not help. Then I took an onion from refrigerator and put some cold pieces on my eyelids and also cut some onions so that my eyes starts tears and that really helped me me.

By: Meilana

Meilana — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:48:41 +0000

that is happening to me RIGHT NOW, and it is very frightening. i got out if the pool like 2 hours ago and my eves are still like this. i tried eyedrops and that doesn’t seem to work.. Maybe i’ll try using the cool water idea..

By: Zak

Zak — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 01:16:22 +0000

That’s happening to me right now, and it IS scary. But hopefully, Anne is right and some artificial tears and some patience will clear my vision. I’ll check back with you later.

By: Anne

Anne — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 01:08:32 +0000

Sonja, that happens to me too. It’s temporary & using some artificial tears can cleanse the pool water from your eyes.
It never happened to me when I was ‘young’. Now I guess I’m more sensitive & I need to start liking goggles.

By: SONJA DIETERS

SONJA DIETERS — Sat, 17 May 2008 19:47:41 +0000

I was in a swim class, at my gym this morning, and it has been about 3 hours and my eyes are cloudy as if I’m looking through eyeglasses that are very dirty. My vision is blurry as if looking through a light smoke filled room. I wear glasses and even with my glasses on my vision is clearer but the same film seems to be there. I have never experienced this before and it is quite scary. My eyes feel dry, and drops do not seem to help. Has anyone evr experienced this side effect?

By: lisa

lisa — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 11:23:33 +0000

Pink eye can have some bad results on your eyes especially if wearing contact lenses while swimming. The site http://www.eyecaresource.com/conditions/pink-eye/ does mention some eye drops from I think a company called Similasan.