The risks of swimming with your eyes open underwater

By Gunnar Schmidtmann, Associate Professor of Optometry and Vision Science, University of Plymouth

If you’ve ever swam underwater with your eyes open, you have noticed that your eyes sting a bit afterwards. Unlike many animals, we don’t have a third eyelid to protect our eyes underwater, but does that mean we shouldn’t swim with our eyes open?

Fortunately, swimming with open eyes is generally not dangerous. However, certain factors must be considered to ensure your safety and comfort.

The stinging or gritty sensation of the eyes is caused by the highly sensitive translucent conjunctiva that covers the white bit and the inner lids of our eyes.

This sensation…

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