For Folks with poor vision

[Comstockfire]

I ordered mine from here: Prescription Scuba Diving Masks - Snorkeling Masks - SeaVisionUSA

I have really "bad" eyes and also need bifocals to see gauges and computer. :glasses:

One the the best investments of my new hobby!

 

[temet vince]

To those individuals who had to swim without a pair of goggles:

I'll bet if you asked your instructor to have a buddy lead you he would have. My instructor actually required us to lead our buddy across the pool without his mask. Maybe mine went the extra mile, or I guess yours went the extra mile. I dunno.

In all honesty, I actually had a couple of times where I had to swim right next to my instructor so that I could see him demonstrate things. My poor buddy patiently waited for me to get back to him. I'm one of those unfortunate people who has a really hard time with contacts. I'm thinking about trying them again only when I'm scuba diving. Then again, Lasik would always be nice. But so would a million dollars.

 

[captain]

I have dived with contacts for over 30 years and never lost one. I intentionally tried wash a pair of old soft contacts out with my eyes open and no mask and couldn't.

 

[tac747]

I had the same problem. I use reading glasses to read my computer on land. I found a flexible bifocal lens at my LDS that sticks to the inside bottom of the lens of my mask. They come in different strengths. Then I found out during my pool classes that because of the magnification of water I really did not need them but left them in just in case i wanted to look at something really small.

 

[TexasKaren68]

I wear contacts for scuba as well. In my OW class I kept my eyes closed for all the mask-off skills. The water still burned my eyes a bit but nothing major. For one of the exercises, my buddy had to lead me across the pool and back without my mask and I just kept my eyes closed the whole time.

Now that I don't have to take my mask off any more, it's been great. My contacts work great and my mask fits very well so I rarely have to clear water from it. I need reading glasses when I have my contacts in, so I use one stick-on lens (Dive Optx) so I can read my gauges and computer clearly. In all my dives, even with the mask-off drills, the lens has never come off.

 

[shmuggy]

I used to dive all the time with my soft contacts in- no problem at all. If you need to flood your mask (when I was starting out I often had fog on the mask)- close your eyes until the mask is cleared. Tell your instructor what is going on when you are doing the skills tests or remove them for that lesson.

I finally did get Lasik but not because of this- but if you work for a company that has a HSA- you can at least get it done with pretax money. The lasik has been great - I went from severe near sightedness to not needing glasses to drive or dive.

 

[RootedInFlorida]

I wear glass most of the time (should be all the time) and recently added bifocals to me mast and cannot believe the difference in the clarity in the guages. Get bifocals, you don't need to get script for bifocal, most dive shops have the lenses in stock.

 

[Hoomi]

The cost of a prescription mask (if you decide to go that route) will depend on the strength of the prescription. My wife is pretty much blind without glasses. On her most recent exam, the optometrist commented that he has very few patients with vision worse than hers. We picked out a mask that would accomodate prescription lenses, and took it to the local vision center that handles doing dive masks.

For her prescription, it cost around double the normal cost of a prescription mask.

One thing I advise - if she has very poor vision without corrective lenses, and if you go with a mask, put together a tether system to connect her mask to her BC. We use a coiled plastic cord designed for keys for my wife's mask. You never know when you're on a group dive, when she might turn, or someone might drop in front of her, and their fin can knock the mask off her face. She will be much more comfortable in the water, if she knows her mask is going to stay within arm's reach, rather than sinking to the bottom. This is also a good idea in case the mask gets knocked off while getting back on the boat or something. Losing a mask is bad enough. Losing one that costs double or triple the regular price of a mask, because of the prescription, is worse (plus, if you're on a trip, it could mean the end of diving for her until you can get back someplace to buy a new mask with the prescription).

 

[DevonDiver]

I dive (and teach) with disposable contacts. I've never had an issue with using them, although I do keep my eyes shut when flooding/removing my mask.