I am wanting to ramp up my swimming and thinking of joining a masters swim group instead of doing all my swimming solo. One thing holding me back from joining the morning group is the horrible goggle marks I get. I am 50 and have to deal with problems with bags under the eyes anyway. I have tried a few different goggles and it doesn’t seem to make a big difference. Any advice for prevention or treatment?
botox or the like. Seriously the best defense against goggle marks.
If you don’t want to go that route go with Swedish goggles or TYR rocket sockets.
oh and most people on masters teams don’t care about your goggle marked eyes… they probably have them too.
So funny you posted this. I am 40 and got in the pool today after a month off and yup all evening all I notice is my goggle marks under my eyes. Maybe I’m missing something but I don’t think Botox( as other poster noted) would work for under the eye area so would be interested in other ideas. I will look into the TYR goggles for sure. Any other recommendations?
not necessarily botox (I use that term like people use the word kleenex), but juvaderm or whatever the latest filler is…it builds up the bone under the eye so there’s less squishy skin to get marked. You still get goggle marks but not nearly as bad.
I have no solution for you- I have the same problem. My goggle eyes last 3-4 hours. My solution is to wear glasses- they hide the goggle marks perfectly! 
GG, does botos really help for that? Would you recommend? I am so fed up with goggle marks lasting all day, am almost willing to try it.
52 years of experience here and most of them spent swimming. After trying everything, I settled on Barracuda goggles for two reasons. First, their ‘Temperpedic’-foam gaskets don’t mark my face and second, they don’t leak because of the huge, soft gasket.
They may not be fast or attractive, but they keep the water out and are comfortable for literally hours during Ironman-length training swims. And, to answer your question, they don’t mark my face.
OK, call me an ass. I’m giving you permission now. Or other creative names as you feel fit. Maybe it’s because I’ve been a swimmer my whole life. Maybe it’s because I’m in my early 30’s. But if you’re seriously letting something as insignificant as goggle marks keep you from swimming more to improve your performance/training/ability, maybe that’s just a convenient excuse? I think it’s pretty much a universal thing, swimmers have some sort of goggle marks (unless the cushier goggles are worn), I don’t think anyone but you really cares or probably really even notices?
That said, I wear Swedes, SocketRockets or the Speedo ones with the little padding - my sockets get sore/lightly bruise when I haven’t worn them in awhile - but my main concern is that they don’t leak so I can see whatever I’m sighting on or the bottom of the pool - not whether they put lines on my face. Probably the same reason I wear ugly swimsuits, usually mismatched running stuff & don’t wear makeup to the gym.
I do have a vain streak, so I’m trying to be sympathetic, I just don’t understand. Maybe a good swabbing with the eye-area creams &/or firming lotions at night might help? I’m a HUGE fan of the Clinique eye stuff…I tend to get dark circles if/when my schedules go nutso.
I use the Olay Regenerist eye roller after I get out of the pool. It is convenient and fast, two important things for me in beauty maintenance. It was mentioned on another thread, and it works well for me, although I am a little younger. If the rings stayed on my eyes, I would probably consider switching something more like a mask, with more surface area to share the pressure.
Take a look at the previous discussion on this very same forum.
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=3544174&
BrokenSpoke
I think so. Like I said get a filler (botox isn’t the right thing…but to me it all falls under ‘botox’) that will build up the bone. You still get goggle marks, but you don’t have as much of the dark circle to begin with, so it’s not as obvious.
But I’m also with Aware, just swim, nobody on the master’s team cares.
Never holds me back from swimming but funny that the original poster sent this on a day when I noticed as well. Although sorry folks when you get to be 40 you will likely notice it a bit more but for now you all are too young!
according to USAT I am 40…
Ditto - sigh.
I don’t know… I don’t think it’s so bad…
Depends on which is deeper: F35-39 or F40-44
Around these parts, the latter is definitely tougher!
AP
My theory is that, relatively speaking, among the womens the older the AG, the tougher. I figure younger kids may be faster, but for those of us that took up sports before or as a direct consequence of Title IX, there weren’t many of us and we had to be tough nuts!
Go sit in the steamroom for 5-10 minutes post-swim and you’ll be fine.
If you need to look sharp for a meeting an hour or so after your swim, goggle marks are going to hi-jack your shit. I addition to the steam room, Homie advises a gentle massage of the goggle imprint area and drinking a bottle of water while in the steamroom.
Thanks for all the good advise. Already been out for the eye roller, and mask type goggles are in the mail. Very interesting reading the comments, seeing how age affects us all. As for just looking for an excuse not to do the workout - I am not going to call you names. I am just going to laugh. As I said, I am 50. I have 2 teenagers and I am an obstetrician. I can come up with 20 excuses at any given time. After more than 20 years doing triathlons, this is just a hobby that I enjoy for the time with friends, staying in shape, and a little healthy competition. I’m not after world records, and do not want to go to Kona. Top third in age group and not losing too much from previous years is good enough. I have been a lurker on slowtwitch for years, and rarely post. I was motivated to post after my last swim workout wearing Kaimens looking like a raccoon for 4 hours afterwards. The kids and parents at the high school basketball game didn’t seem to care, but it would have scared my patients! Again, thanks for the help, and for all the Slowtwitchers keeping it twitchy.