contacts and diving

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Are prescription goggles an option for you? If possible it seems like that would be a better option since contacts can fall out. If you get your masked knocked off and a contact falls out that would suck. If you can do a prescription mask I've heard of people somehow connecting it so if it does get knocked off it will be easy to retrieve even when "blind". Just a thought.
 
I am a new diver that would like to now if you can dive with hard contacts. or if soft is recamended?With the shape my eyes are in I can only get hard contacts (gas perm lens)


I have been diving with gas permeable lenses for 10 years with minimal problems - one time a little salt water dried and crystalized under lens resulting in a scratched cornea, another time a mask lens fell out and I lost a contact getting back to the boat. I have a scleral buckle from surgery 40 yrs. ago for detached retina, numerous laser treatments for torn retina, lattice degeneration, etc (none of this related to diving or contact lenses). Have nearly 1300 dives with lenses and am completely satisfied with performance and safety.
 
I've been diving with gas perms for years and have never had a problem. I have been told that the gas permeability actually makes them better for diving, but I do not know if that is true. I always take a spare set with me though just in case I should lose one. Close your eyes when clearing your mask and you should be just fine.
 
I dive with contacts (soft) and have for 6 years. I have only twice had a contact fall out. Once at the surface after a dive (which I actually managed to get back in) and once while teaching in the pool (mask removal skills). *Knock on wood* It's not as common a problem as you would think, that being said, I don't open my eyes under water without a mask on.

There are pros and cons to both contacts and prescription masks and you'll have to decide which option is best for you.
 
My cousin dives with Hard contacts (GP). I dive with soft. I've never lost a contact diving. I can not speak for her, but I dove with her for a week in the keys, and on many dives since, and she has never complained about it.

The only problem would be if your mask was ripped off, and could not be replaced. One would have no choice but to open their eyes UW, and deal with what comes. I carry a spare set of contacts on the boat, and always bring several pair with me on trips.

My buddy wears glasses (for some strange reason does not do contacts), and he dives with a corrected mask. The only issue there is that once he removes his glasses, he must wear his mask to see.
 
Prescription masks/goggles usually aren't an option anymore for those of us relegated to using hard contact lenses . . .for myself they cannot correct for the steep astigmatism that I suffer from. . .

Recommend getting a low profile mask with a purge-valve, so you can clear a mask leak/flood without losing your lens should it happen to pop-off during or prior to. I've saved a lot of $$$ and retained & recovered many hard lenses over the years by using a purge-valve mask. . . .
 
I have dived with hard contacts, gas perms and now soft, I have never had a problem or lost one of any type. I tried the prescription mask deal before contacts and didn't much care for it, too much hassle switching back and forth. The contacts are by far the better way for me.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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