Hi guys
Ive just had Pterygiums removed from my eyes ( which has got to be the most painfull thing ive had had done in a while)
Once removed there is a 1 in 5 chance of them growing back
So i need to find some good uv glasses that i can wear in the surf
Can anyone recomend any brand which work and stay on in the water
Mike
They all pretty much suck cuz they fog or get water drops and make vision clarity poor when surfing. I see a lot of guys wear them and pull them off when they want to catch a wave, so the goal is to get something that you can pull off
and have safely hang around your neck and not come off or hang yourself with if wiping out. Also I assume most of your time is spent not surfing so wearing sunglasses with uv protection during daylight hours might be the most important thing to do also. FCS sells a strap on cap with a brim that could help a little too?
hi mike
i had that one about 12 yrs ago
nothing worse than watching them stick a needle in your eye
i have had no more trouble( touch wood)
you definatly need protection though.
huie
@compsand.com
The only thing I’ve found that works relatively well is a Gath helmet with the darker visor. You can just pull down the visor enough to block out the overhead glare which is the most usual, or pull it down a couple of more inches to cover your eyes if the glare is more direct. Keep the visor clean and scratch free, and they last a long time, and can be replaced if and when necessary.
When I was in Margrets River WA years back, the local boyz out riding the bombz did some real nice custom paint on theirs…
Both eyes at once, ouch! I had one eye done and that sucked enough for me. I have tried seaspecs and they stay on fine but do tend to fog up or get water spots. A hat helps a lot too. I tend to switch between hat and shades depending on the height of the sun.
Make sure you wear polarized sunglasses and a hat when not surfing. The uv all adds up.
Oh yeah dust is bad for ptyrigiums so wear goggles or full face respirator when shaping, sanding, etc.
Good luck!!
Hi Keith
It was just one eye
Ive allways worn sunnies when out of the water and quite often wear a hat in the surf
Ive been looking at the silverfish on the web and just wondered if any one had used them
i have allways suffered with the glare when in the water so a solution would be great
Mike
Just a tip, if you look into Oakley “cycling” model of sunglasses those crazy tour de France guys wear, they are anti dust, moisture, fog… so with a respective strap I would imagine those would be the way to go 
I’ve had a pair of Sundog sunglasses made for surfing, sailboarding and so on for a few years now.
They are not supposed to fog but did.
Easy fix.
Popped out the lenses and ground out 1/2 doz small semi circles on the lense edges (3 on top & 3 on bottom) and no more fogging. When its hot the salt water will dry out in between sets but just get them wet and good again.
Copied the semi-circles from a pair of Oakleys which were triple the price.
Sundogs cost me about $100 in Australia so probably only $40-50 in the US.
As far as hats go the best hats for surfing that I’ve come across are Protecsun which are from Michael Cundith’s wife.
Tried an Ocean & earth bucket style which looked the same as the Protecsun but the brim would droop down over the ears giving tunnel vision- terrible. No such problem with the Protecsun. The FCS’s look like floppy crap compared to the them as well.
http://www.mcsurf.com.au/shopping/surf_hats/29/1
Lo and behold just looked up this link and there are the Sundogs too.
When I was at G-land several years ago I saw Gerry Lopez out in the water. He was wearing a big pair of ski goggles to protect his eyes. He pulled them down around his neck when he went to catch a wave. There was another guy out there called Camel that ripped harder than anyone. He wore an old motor cycle helmet when he surfed. Coolness is really just a state of mind. Here you have two of the most respected guys out in the line-up, and they are just using the tools that work for them.
Yep I bought one of the Cundith’s surf hats ( not caps), inspired by Cuttie’s recommendation if I remember right.
I wore it all spring , summer and on sunny days this winter and it’s excellent.
I don’t have pterygiums , but MC claims on their site that his cleared up when he started wearing the hat.
Not that it’s going to help you now but when a pterygium gets cut off a graft gets put in it’s place. The graft is usually conjunctiva from another part of the eye. If you don’t get a graft they usually recur so grafting is pretty standard now. There is a glue that the graft can be attached with rather than suture. People have less pain when the glue is used. But the glue is expensive if you use a whole vial for one surgery. Most places doing one pteryguim removal will suture. If you go to a practice that does a lot of them and they can line up 5 or so then the glue is pretty comparable to the cost of suture. So if you’re going to get em done go to a place that does a lot and ask about the glue. Where I work we usually suture and virtually everyone complains.
No good tips about the sunnies. I use em sometimes but they’re a pain. I might try drilling the holes - that sound like it might be worth a go.
Hi Sabs, I’ve battled with this problem my whole adult life.
I’ve got pterygiums on both eyes but haven’t had the op because I’m scared of the pain, recovery time and chance they will grow back.
I’ve tried all the surfing sunnies and found they all suck.
I’ve had the best success with a simple pair of polarised cheap sunnies with a neoprene neck strap for small surf, with a hat.
For big surf I use a pair of polarised swimming goggles which I pull down around the neck before catching a wave.
This was mandatory for WA where sun setting in the Indian Ocean and a twenty knot sideshore wind every arvo felt like your eyes were getting sandblasted.
To deal with the eye irritation I use a herbal formula called bilberry complex. You can get it at any health food store.
It really soothes sun and surf flogged eyes.
Good luck with the recovery.
Steve
Pterygium is removed and they now graft in over the area to prevent them from growing back and to prevent red eye in the future. This can still lead to dry eyes where you have to use eye drops a lot.
Sunglasses in the water fog up, especially in the winter. Your breath will cause the fog and I don’t care about how much anti fogging stuff you put on the lenses, they still fog. Almost every kind of water sunglasses has holes around the lenses. I have tried 3 brands. The latest was the cheapest where they gave you one pair for free, they fogged up the worst. I even went to a dive store and bought the anti fogging stuff for diving masks. I tried soap, glycerin, rainx. About 5 years ago there was an Austrailian company bragging how they invented a coating that would prevent fog, never heard anything else from them. The best that didn’t fog as much were the Oakley water jackets but they were real expensive. I believe the Sea Specs were the big goofy goggles that worked pretty good and you could also use them for skiing but they just look too goofy. Still looking for a better and cheaper anti fog solution. A lot of the glasses come with a leash strap and most stay on pretty good so you don’t lose them in the water. Fog is the big issue. Right now I stopped using sunglasses in the water and will wait until there is some technological leap.
having pterygiums and pinguecula in both eyes for years, I wear sunglasses a lot in the surf. Of the two that I’ve tried, the Oakley waterjackets are very good. They don’t fog up, unless water/body temps are extremely different, and the water beading is minimal if you use their hydrophobic solution. I’ve been pummeled on DOH surf and they stay on fine. Sea specs are a third of the cost, but you get what you pay for. I’ve been through three pairs of those. My buddy just bought the Silverfish brand, so I’ll see how his hold up.