Diving while wearing contact lenses

[Goldendive]

I wear contact lenses and haven't run into any problem while diving. If my mask floods, I just close my eyes, besides, your eyes can become accostomed to salt water, so theres' no stinging from the salt. I've never lost a lense yet from either snorkling or diving. I use disposable ones and always carry spares with me wherever I go, it just common sense.
relics1

 

[Diver Di]

I've been diving with soft contact lenses for about 15 years and have not had a problem. I wear the disposable ones and always have a spare pair with me. I did lose one contact lens, but that was on the surface while waiting to get on the boat.

During training I kept my eyes closed. When we had to swim to the other end of the pool and pick our mask out from a pile, I just picked one up, put it on and then used that to find my mask. Worked out fine.

Everyone's different, though, so what worked for me may not work for the next person.

 

[diverrex]

I normally wear RGP lens. About 100 dives ago I realized too late my mask was flooding on descent because a piece of my hood was under the seal. Lost both lens that day. Since then I got a prescription for disposable lens I wear for diving only. No big deal if I lose one of them. 100+ dives later I haven't lost one and haven't had any problems. I always carry spares but haven't needed them. For me it's a much better option than a prescription mask. I get back on the boat, take my mask off and can still see 20/20. If I lost a lens underwater I could still see well enough to find my mask, read my guages, etc. Just couldn't see clearly enough to truly enjoy the dive.

 

[BHB ScubaTroll]

... When we had to swim to the other end of the pool and pick our mask out from a pile, I just picked one up, put it on and then used that to find my mask.

...

For some reason a Star Trek vision came to me at this point...

Kobayashi Maru
OK, geeks will get it, others will skip it...

 

[BHB ScubaTroll]

... I get back on the boat, take my mask off and can still see 20/20. If I lost a lens underwater I could still see well enough to find my mask, read my guages, etc. Just couldn't see clearly enough to truly enjoy the dive.

I understand what you are saying...I added two feet of length to my console in order to read my guages with one eye closed...

I was reading a post here on SB when I realized I could get contacts that worked for my farsighted eyes (since the seventh grade...).

I traded in my speargun for a camera a number of years ago (before SB was around)...

Since then, I couldn't tell if I had a good picture, or needed to take another (until I downloaded them to my computer).

I made two "test" dives from a shallow local beach (Venice Beach Dive) to see if it made a difference.

The first dive I quadrupled the number of shark teeth I've ever found on any VB dive. That sold me immediately! (not to mention the comfort of moving into the "shell zone" I used to avoid (because I couldn't see well enough to know a shell from a shark tooth)

 

[ClayJar]

During training I kept my eyes closed. When we had to swim to the other end of the pool and pick our mask out from a pile, I just picked one up, put it on and then used that to find my mask. Worked out fine.

Actually, the funny thing is that we *intentionally* do it that way. We have everyone give their masks to the instructor, who drops down to the bottom. Everyone swims down to him without a mask and gets handed a random mask (but not theirs). They then have to use what's likely an ill-fitting mask to find theirs. Many swaps later, everyone's back in their own, and everyone surfaces with their buddy.

(The *really* funny thing was a couple classes ago when the instructor accidentally gave someone their own mask. They took the longest looking for their mask on the other divers. )