People can continue to wear goggles into their old age when swimming with no increased risk of glaucoma according to Lions Eye Institute (LEI). LEI’s medical researchers have found no link between the regular use of swimming goggles and glaucoma.
Reporting in the British Medical Journal, LEI Managing Director Professor David Mackey said previous studies had found a small but significant transient increase in intraocular pressure (IOP) – a risk factor in the development of glaucoma – in people wearing certain types of swimming goggles.
The studies found this increase was maintained while the goggles were on but returned to normal levels as soon as they were taken off.
“These past findings suggested that wearing goggles could represent a significant risk
factor for developing or worsening of glaucoma in people who swim regularly,” Professor Mackey said.
“We performed comprehensive eye exams on 231 members of local swimming clubs and 118 non-swimmers.
“Their IOP and retinal nerve fibre layer thickness were measured, with the result that we did not detect any new cases of glaucoma in our cohort of frequent swimmers.
“We also found no difference in the thickness of the retinal nerve fibre layers between swimmers and non-swimmers.”
