Specialty services

Night Lenses for Surfing

Surfers are told two contradictory things: do not wear contact lenses in the water, and you obviously cannot wear glasses. So most short-sighted surfers paddle out unable to read a set properly, or they wear day lenses and squeeze their eyes shut through every duck dive and wipeout.

The advice is not fussiness. Acanthamoeba and other water-borne organisms are a real risk under a contact lens, and soft lenses are worse because they absorb and hold water against the cornea. Lenses are also simply lost — one good wipeout and the session is over.

What night lenses are

Night lenses — also called orthokeratology, ortho-k or overnight contact lenses — are rigid lenses worn only while you sleep. They gently reshape the front surface of the cornea overnight. You take them out in the morning and see clearly through the day with nothing in your eyes and nothing on your face. Nothing is cut and nothing is permanent: stop wearing them and the cornea returns to its own shape over days to a couple of weeks. Full detail, including cost and the safety rules, is on our orthokeratology page.

Why they suit surfing

Night lenses were more or less made for this. Your eyes are corrected before you leave the house and there is nothing in them when you hit the water.

No infection risk from the water, because no lens is in the eye.
Nothing to lose in a duck dive, a wipeout or a hold-down.
You can read the set from the beach and from the line-up — which is the whole point, and which prescription goggles can never do for a surfer.
You can see the car park, the road home and the forecast on your phone without going back to glasses.
Cold water and wind do not affect it, because there is nothing to dry out or chill.

What to expect

The fitting starts with corneal topography — a map of the surface of your eye — because the lens is designed from that map rather than from a guess. You wear trial lenses overnight and come in the next morning, ideally with the lenses still in, so we can see exactly how they sat. Vision usually improves over the first few nights and settles within one to two weeks, which is why we suggest starting in the off-season or well before a tournament rather than the week of it.

Surfers' eyes get a second problem. Years of wind, salt spray and reflected UV off the water cause pterygium — a fleshy growth that creeps from the corner of the eye across the cornea, sometimes far enough to distort vision and need surgery. It is so common in surfers it is nicknamed surfer's eye. Wear wraparound UV sunglasses out of the water, and get any growing lump on the white of the eye looked at rather than watched. See pterygium and pinguecula.

Cost

Two parts: the fitting and care programme ($1,100 for both eyes as a standard fit, $1,350 where a custom design is needed, $1,000 for a single eye) and the lenses themselves, currently $450 per lens and rising to $600. A standard both-eyes fit today is therefore $2,000. Lenses carry a six-month breakage warranty, extendable to twelve months with loss cover for $50 per lens — which most sporting families take. Lenses are usually replaced about once a year. The full breakdown, including the price rise, is on the orthokeratology page.

If your eyes are red after a session, especially after rain when run-off reaches the surf, that is worth attention rather than eye drops from the supermarket. Pain out of proportion to how the eye looks is the symptom to act on the same day.

The water rule, which we do not bend. Night lenses are never rinsed or stored in tap water, tank water, bottled water, pool water or river water — only in the solution we prescribe — and they are out of the eyes before swimming, showering and spa pools. Acanthamoeba, the organism behind the most feared contact lens infection, lives in all of those. Our partner optometrist Jagrut Lallu is a co-author on a published case report of orthokeratology-related Acanthamoeba keratitis in a 13-year-old, so we would rather tell you about it plainly at the start than not at all. Nearly all of that risk is preventable with habits we can teach in a single appointment.

Is it right for you?

Night lenses work well for short-sightedness with up to a moderate amount of astigmatism. They are not for everyone: high prescriptions can sit outside the fitting range, significant irregular astigmatism is usually better served by a different specialty lens, active dry eye or lid disease needs treating first, and the nightly hygiene routine is not optional. We tell you which group you are in after the topography, not before it — and if a different option would serve you better, we will say so.

Optometrists for night lenses for surfing at Rose Optometry

You will be seen by one of seven therapeutically qualified optometrists — all University of Auckland graduates, all able to prescribe eye medication where it is needed, and all of whom examine patients from six weeks of age. Night lenses for surfing is part of their clinical practice.

Jagrut Lallu — Partner Optometrist · BOptom (Hons), MSc Specialty Lenses (Hons), FIAOMC
Jacqueline Rowe — Partner Optometrist · BSc, BOptom
Emilie Lawson — BOptom (Hons) · Accredited Glaucoma Prescriber · ACO Certificate in Advanced Contact Lenses
Jason Shen — BOptom (Hons)
Jessica Wood — BOptom (Hons) · Clinical Research Optometrist, New Zealand Eye Research Centre
Stella Wong — BOptom (Hons)
Anjali Hira — BOptom (Hons)

Book a free night lens chat

The quickest way to find out whether night lenses suit your eyes and your sport is a free 15-minute chat. No cost, no obligation.

New patient — book a comprehensive eye examination (45 minutes, includes imaging and full pretest), $129 for adults, $79 for children and school students.
Already a Rose patient — book your eye examination here.
Want to talk about night lenses first? — book a free 15-minute Ortho-K chat, no cost and no obligation.
Ready to be fitted — new ortho-k / night lens fit (30 minutes).

Or call 07 847 3195, or get in touch. Rose Optometry, 38 Lake Road, Frankton, Hamilton. 07 847 3195

Reviewed by Jagrut Lallu — BOptom (Hons), MSc Specialty Lenses (Hons), FIAOMC, Therapeutic Optometrist & Contact Lens Specialist, Partner, Rose Optometry. Last reviewed 19 September 2026.