diving with contacts

[juggler]

hello all

just thought id find out if anybody has ever had any problems diving with contacts and what type of contacts they were using.

I read somewhere that if you use hard lenses that can be bad for you.

I use soft lenses, has anybody had problems with these or known of people who have?

cheers,

 

[bottemdweller2]

Nope I dive with soft contacts and have had no problems at all.

 

[D_B]

I have seen two schools of thoughts come up on this .. some say they re-use their contacts between dives, others say it's a good idea to change them ... my eye doctor thought I should be able to determine what I should do (I leave them in till I go home afterwards, but I don't dive where the water is likely to be contaminated) and soft disposable contacts are the way to go

Tip some people (me) have trouble seeing close up because of strength of their prescription (or are old ) so what I have done is use a weaker prescription all around (-5.25 insted of-6) and a weaker one still (-4.25) in my right (non dominate) eye .. again, my eye doc says this is fine, it's called monovision, some people can do this without it bothering them, you naturally switch eyes depending on if your looking close or far .. sure makes it easier to see my gages

 

[SFLDiver3445]

Fortunately, I do not require the use of any type of corrective vision divice, but as a dive instructor and someone who has worked in a dive shop and sold masks, I thought I'd throw in my two cents nonetheless.

There are so many masks that sell the the inividual corrective lenses that you can just snap into place, and you can even put different strength lenses in different sides of the mask. I also know that you can send your favorite mast to a lab and they will install custom lenses in them for you as well, but I know that some peoples vision preclude them from going with this option. If this option is available to you, I would highly suggest going this route, that way you do not have to worry one bit about your contacts, because occassionally, you will get water in your mask, and I'm sure that can be down right unpleasant if you use contacts.

 

[D_B]

I get water in my mask from time to time, water in your mask with contacts is no biger deal than without them, unless your in contaminated water

having prescription lenses in your mask (and many of them can be purchased with those lenses as an option right from the dealer) can be an easier, if more expensive, option .. you will have to keep your mask on when when walking up the beach, or carry a pair of glasses

 

[Dr. Doug Ebersole]

I've been diving with soft contacts since the 1970s without any problems whatsoever. Just my 2 cents.

 

[JimHar99]

I dive with soft contact lenses (non-disposable). I have never had a problem.

 

[texasaubiefan]

My daughter dives with soft contacts and has had no issues. Disposables are a good idea just because of potential contamination issues. The only issues w/hard lenses or gas perms according to our opthamologist is how the eye or contact responds to water contact. Kind of like using hard lenses w/sports. They can get knocked out of your eye easier with a blow so if you have a major mask flood and happen to have your eyes open, you might loose a contact. Very small risk but worth mentioning.

 

[BTravlin]

I dive with soft lenses and have had no problems to date. I do find that on trips to the Caribbean I experience a little drying of the lenses due to the breezy salt air conditions. This is easily solved by using wetting drops or taking them out once or twice during the day for a quick rinse.

 

[DeputyDan]

No problems.