This was my first trip with Daily wear contacts and I wish I had switched years ago:

Here were my fears:
1. Not being able to wash my hands clean enough to stick my fingers in my eyes each day.
2. My hands and fingers tend to get dry and chapped when I've been paddling or fishing a lot.
3. It may be hard to put them in if it's windy, or raining without a good mirror.

Here's what I did:
1. I made sure to use hand sanitizer each morning and night before putting them in or taking them out and making sure I let them dry up real well.
2. Used Working Man Hands, (found it at Mill Fleet Farm and Blain Farm and Fleet), that seems to keep my hands and fingers softer and less chapped than standard lotions. I would do this after I finished putting them in or taking them out. I would usually do a mid day application as well.
3. It was always windy and rainy on this trip. I have a little plastic "signal mirror" that I would place on top of my hammock tarp at the right angle, get each contact ready and keep my back to the wind. I was able to put them in each morning without incident. I did bring two extra days worth on an 8 day trip.

Results:
I had fresh vision each day and never had that "grainy" feeling in my contacts.
I had a little pocket in my bathroom bag that I kept my empty contact packets in to take back home.
I wouldn't go on another trip without them ever again.

I know this isn't a typical gear review, but it definitely made my trip much better than almost anything else I could have upgraded in all my gear.

Nomad.

Great tips Nomad.
I ended up getting LASIK done about a month before my first boundary waters trip a few years back, partly because I didn't want to deal with contacts for a week out the wilderness. I can say it was the best 4 grand I've ever spent.

Nlong,

I always thought I'd get lasik as well, but my eye doctor always told me I didn't quite need it...I'm not sure he was right. I think most I know that got lasik say it was a great thing. My brother had dry eye for a year after his, which I think had me hesitant, but since he says it's the best thing he has done as well.

Nomad

Last year before I went I got the multi-focal contact lenses. Very weird at first but after the first day I got used to them. Never thought that I would ever see (no pun intended) a bi-focal contact lens. I quit wearing contacts over 10 years ago but I still wear them in BWCA and when doing other similar things.

Northwoodsman,

Mine are actually multifocal as well. (bifocals). Now I can see far away and tie a knot on a lure.

Nomad

i had the lasik surgery back in the mid 1990's, it was spendy but i was tired of glasses.
about 2004 i noticed a little less clear vision and it's gotten worse as the years wear on. i did go see the eye doc to find out if i'd be a candidate for additional touch-up surgery and discovered i am not. so... back to glasses. i keep them in the truck for driving in places with lots of signs and that i'm unfamiliar, or at night. i should be wearing them all the time but i know where i'm going most of the time so i don't. plus i'm just too dang stubborn. it's tough on a bw trip, things are as crisp and clear as they would be with glasses.

In the BWCA or other remote areas, I always carry a lens case filled with cleaner along with my knife and lighter. T's not common but I have had lenses pop out due to dry eyes, winds, branches, rubbing, etc. Having the case has several times given my the choice to save the lens or (more often) clean it off and put it back in on the spot.

Mocha,

I can relate. I don't need my contacts at my desk so I often don't wear them. I also tend not to wear them at night when it's not my turn to drive so I can sleep. This last trip I woke up in the truck, we got to the landing and started traveling...I realized I didn't have my contacts in, after a couple of hours I put them in and WOW, things were much more crisp and bright!

Nomad.

Were they pretty reasonable? I d like to get rid of glasses.

nctry,

I don't remember the exact numbers, but I remember the math and I compared the cost of the standard contacts, along with cases, and fluids. It turns out for me that they weren't much more than the regular ones.

The other advantage is the clean, clear feeling every morning when I put them in, it's fabulous!'

Nomad

I've wondered if this would be feasible. I can see well enough out to distance, but need glasses to tie knots and do other close up work. Thanks for the review. It will be something I bring up with the eye doc in August.

I've had extended wear soft lenses for almost a decade now & they've been awesome. Its great being able to go to sleep & wake up in the morning and not have to do anything.

I always bring a backup pair and a little bit of solution & a case because you never know, but so far have never needed it.

At the end of my time with corrective lenses before I got Lasik, I was using extended wear lenses. I liked not having to take them out every night, but they got darn uncomfortable by the 5th day of the 7 days. Plus I have dry eyes and I was ALWAYS putting drops in. I used to time it so that I put in a fresh pair the first morning of the trip and threw them away after the last day.

I got Lasik about 12 years ago and it was the best thing I've ever done for myself. I did have dry eye for a while afterward, but I used Restasis for about a year and my tears are closer to normal frequency and viscosity and I rarely need eyedrops any more. I loved the way I could see with contacts, but my eyes were always irritated. It didn't help that I have moderate-to-severe seasonal allergies and my eyes are usually the hardest hit - so I could only wear them part time during spring and fall.

12 years later and I only have a little bit of a diminishing of my eyesight, and that's on up-close stuff or in poor lighting. I got a pair of readers that help with that, or I can always use my phone's camera to magnify something.

My wife got Lasik about the same time I did, and her eyesight has diminished so that she has to wear contacts or glasses again. I'd be pissed if that was me - but I paid for the state of the art technology, wave front mapping, etc. I think she just got standard Lasik and the Army paid for it so I assume there were no bells and whistles (it was before we met.)

One of the biggest hassles of camping was dealing with contacts... somehow cleaning my hands well enough to put them in my eye, what if I lost a lens, no bathroom mirror, carrying solution, etc.

One pair a day would help a lot in that regard - carrying extras would help.