mask squeeze

[ScubaMike14]

I have been about 2 weeks healing from my mishap, my eyes are just about back to normal. My question is: Will this accident at all predispose me to a future problem?

I know you are a new diver and this is a very legitimate question, however I don't understand "healing from my mishap" and "eyes back to normal"??? Surely you are exagerating here a bit?

Just a little blow of air through your nose is all it takes to equalize the pressure in your mask.

Mike Rushton

 

[Walter]

I agree with what you're saying, but honestly I could not have equalized my mask by blowing a little air in it..I tried. It was extremely tight which is why I was asking how tight is "too tight" for the strap. I just wondered if there was a "rule of thumb" but I'm thinking it's a trial and error type of thing.

thanks for the info..I appreciate it.

Actually, you could. I'm sure it was too tight and uncomfortably so, but you would not have been injured if that were all it was. If, on a dive, you notice your mask is uncomfortably tight, take it off, and adjust it. You can see well enough without a mask to make a simple adjustment to the strap. Some masks you can even adjust while wearing.

I don't understand "healing from my mishap" and "eyes back to normal"???

Mask squeeze is like a huge hicky across the face. It damages blood vessels in the skin and in the eyes. It can be a very painful and ugly injury.

 

[elcameroon]

Mask squeeze is like a huge hicky across the face. It damages blood vessels in the skin and in the eyes. It can be a very painful and ugly injury.

The capillaries around your eyes and on your eyelids are located very close to the surface of the skin. Capillaries are also very small and delicate by default. That is why they are so easliy affected by mask squeeze.

I have seen a few divers come up from a dive with two spectacular black eyes. I mean they looked like they had been few rounds in a boxing ring. This is easily avoided by exhaling through your nose frequently during a dive. Just think about breathing in through your mouth and out through your nose, anti-Mr. Miyagi style.

I am also a big fan of having your mask strap as loose as possible. I can't explain the physics, but I think the ambient pressure of the water is more then sufficient to keep your mask on your face. I can remember several times having someone point out that my mask strap was floating (I have a neoprene slap strap) up above my head. Otherwise I doubt I would have noticed til I surfaced - when I am sure that my mask would have then fallen off of my face.

Good luck in the future - I doubt you'll ever forget to equalize your mask again.

 

[Walter]

This is easily avoided by exhaling through your nose frequently during a dive.

Thanks for explaining this to me. I wasn't aware.......

You can easily prevent mask squeeze by simply exhaling through your nose on descent. Every time you equalize your ears, equalize your mask.

 

[Cacia]

I equalize my mask but still get the dent in my face. I have found the expensive frameless masks (low volume) bite into my face. The cheaper masks, with a big angleed soft skirt is more comfortable. I love the Shadow, the SP frameless, for how they look but they feel terrible on my face. I have noticed that the cheaper a mask is, the more comfy.

 

[ScubaMike14]

I have worked in the medical field a LONG time, so I am aware of how vascular the entire head is, especially the face (including the eyes). In over 7 years of diving I have NEVER seen anyone with black eyes or a terrible hicky on thier face. Wow, that must have been one h--l of a squeeze!

I suppose treatment would just be to stay out of the water and apply cold packs.

I'm not being mean or bashing at all, I really have never seen it...hence my question. As Catherine knows, just when you think you've seen it all......

Mike Rushton

 

[microdiver]

In over 7 years of diving I have NEVER seen anyone with black eyes or a terrible hicky on thier face. Wow, that must have been one h--l of a squeeze!



I'm not being mean or bashing at all, I really have never seen it...hence my question. As Catherine knows, just when you think you've seen it all......

Mike Rushton

I wish I had a picture to send you to help you believe..2 black eyes, 2 eye orbitals swollen for 2 days, and 2 eyes that you could see absolutely NO white at all. In fact for the first day or so I actually had blood clots in my eyes. Not pretty at all and I am not exagerrating in the least. It actually was a h--ll of a squeeze. I had to have a scheduled surgery cancelled because of the condition of my eyes, and it wasn't surgery on my eyes. I dare say, I will not experience this in the future...what a stupid mistake! all because I didn't want a little water to leak in....I have learned my lesson and with all the advice I have received at least I have a place to start. Taking my Open Water Course in Mexico on the accelerated plan cost me a little. They did the best they could in the little time they had with me. I don't blame them. I take responsiblity, I do remember reading a little about what to do in the event your mask "pressurizes." I blew out my nose, nothing happened. Anyway, I AM a learning experience.:05:

 

[microdiver]

The cheaper masks, with a big angleed soft skirt is more comfortable.

Catherine,
What mask do you wear? I am a small framed female with a small face and have a tough time finding a mask that I feels like it fits me like a glove. I had another dive master tell me that the cheaper masks are better as well. I just don't have a clue which type of "cheaper masks" are the better ones. I'm sure they are not all the same.

Thanks..

 

[waterwraith]

Try an Ocean Master mask. the strap can be adjusted very easily without having to take it off. Also always equalize your mask. Keep your mask as loose as possible without letting water in.

To give you an idea of how loose you can keep a mask. I sneezed once while diving and my mask flew forward 3 inches and smacked me in the face on the return. Just kidding but I do keep my mask extremely loose.

 

[boulderjohn]

Taking my Open Water Course in Mexico on the accelerated plan cost me a little. They did the best they could in the little time they had with me. I don't blame them.

I do.

I, too, took an accelerated plan in a Mexican Resort. When I made the decision to do so, I was not aware that it would be "accelerated," and I figured that the course would meet the same standards as any other course with that agency. When I was certified, I was totally pleased, and I figured that I had had the same training as anyone else.

Several years later I found myself in divemaster training at my local dive shop, and I learned to my horror how much I had missed in that accelerated experience. Entire skills were completely skipped in my training. Every diver who goes through their training in the LDS for which I work gets the whole enchilada, and every one of them is way ahead of where I was when I got certified.

I am sure that, as in your case, the people who worked with me "did the best they could in the little time they had with me." It was their decision, though, to limit the time, not mine. When I went on that trip, I intended to get certified. I had no idea what that required, and I did whatever they told me to do. If they had told me to do everything that the standards required, I would have done all of that and learned much more. Instead, they gave me the Reader's Digest version of the course and set me loose.

It was their choice to short change me, and I suspect it was the decision of the company you worked with, not you, that limited your instruction.