I searched for threads with discussion of what I'm about to say and couldn't find any. So, here goes. Hopefully, I'm not repeating something obvious that I missed.
Very short version: Multi-focal contacts have solved my underwater vision issues. And, Diluted Baby Shampoo seems to cause me to lose the lenses in the water.
Long version:
Back story: I wore contacts for about 20 years. Then I got Lasik about 20 years ago and had 20/20 vision, near and far, for a long time. In the last 5 years or so, I have started to really need reading glasses for a lot of daily tasks. Recently, I realized that my far vision has really dropped off in one eye, too. So, I finally went to the eye doctor for an exam.
Over the last 5+ years of diving, I have tried Seavision masks with gauge reader lenses, and I have tried normal masks with Hydro-Tac stick-on reader lenses. Those all have worked okay for me. Except that I have not been able to find a mask that reliably did not leak. Thus why I moved on from the Seavision masks and have just dived with no correction for quite a while now. My vision is not terrible and I have been able to read my Teric/Perdix/Predator adequately underwater, without the correction.
At my eye exam 3 weeks ago, the doctor dropped a news bomb on me that I was not aware of. I've been out of the vision correction market for 20 years. What can I say? Anyway, they now have multi-focal contact lenses. In both daily disposable and monthly extended wear varieties. That means each eye has a lens that gives one amount of correction for far vision and a different amount of correction for near vision. It's like having bifocals except that you don't have to tilt your head up or down. It's like magic. My understanding is that the very center of the lens gives one correction and then the outer ring gives a different correction. Somehow your brain just figures out what part to pay attention to.
I got some of each to try. I have to say that the first pair of dailies were almost as life-changing as when I got Lasik 20 years ago. I walked out of the doctor's office that day with lenses in and testing 20/20 for both near and far vision. They are awesome!
I talked to the doc about diving and she strongly recommended dailies for everything because of the risk of eye infections from monthlies. And she especially recommended the dailies for diving, for that reason. Water has nasty stuff in it. If it gets on your contact lens, it is much better to be able to toss the lens after diving than be in a quandary about throwing away a pair of monthly lenses after 1 day.
I got both dailies and monthlies. I take the monthlies out and put them in a storage case the night before a dive day and then put in dailies the morning of a dive day. Throw them away at the end of the day. Repeat.
The next issue was that the first day I dived with them, I don't know when I lost them, but I had lost both dailies by the end of a day of 3 dives. That is with no mask floods or removals. It just felt like my eyes got really dry at times and (probably) the lenses popped out when I blinked. That day, I did not think to check the inside of my mask after each dive to see if they were in there.
The next time I went diving, I paid more attention and after dive 1, I found my left lens stuck to the inside of my mask. Right lens was still in my eye. I put it in some cleaning solution for a bit and then put it back in. After dive 2, same thing. I left it out for dive 3, then put it back in for dive 4. It stayed in during dive 4. My right lens stayed in all day.
I've done 5 more days of diving and I think I have now worked out why I was losing lenses and I have not lost a lens in the last few days of diving.
I believe my diluted baby shampoo that I use for anti-fog is why I was losing lenses.
It has been my practice to keep a squeeze bottle of DBS (diluted baby shampoo) in my dive bag. Roughly 1 part BS to 3 or 4 parts water. I squirt it in my mask while I'm prepping my gear. Before I splash, I rub it around with my finger some to make sure the glass is clean, dump it out, then give my mask a quick dunk in water. This leaves somewhat of a film of DBS on the glass, which I thought was helping to keep it from fogging. I think it was that DBS in there that would eventually creep from my mask skirt to my skin to my eyes that was making my eyes dry and causing me to lose my lenses.
I have changed my process simply to wash my mask much more vigorously, to really kind of try to get the DBS completely out. Usually, I also end up trying to spit in my mask, swirl that around with a finger, and then another quick dunk in the water (but I don't know if that's required or not). Since I've started doing it that way, I have not lost a contact lens and I have also not had any mask fogging.
Hopefully, this will help someone else who thinks, as I did, that the only real option for being to read your computer and camera display and controls, is a mask with corrective lenses. I know contacts will not work for everyone. But, I think they'll work for a lot of people. And if they do work for you, they are awesome!
Very short version: Multi-focal contacts have solved my underwater vision issues. And, Diluted Baby Shampoo seems to cause me to lose the lenses in the water.
Long version:
Back story: I wore contacts for about 20 years. Then I got Lasik about 20 years ago and had 20/20 vision, near and far, for a long time. In the last 5 years or so, I have started to really need reading glasses for a lot of daily tasks. Recently, I realized that my far vision has really dropped off in one eye, too. So, I finally went to the eye doctor for an exam.
Over the last 5+ years of diving, I have tried Seavision masks with gauge reader lenses, and I have tried normal masks with Hydro-Tac stick-on reader lenses. Those all have worked okay for me. Except that I have not been able to find a mask that reliably did not leak. Thus why I moved on from the Seavision masks and have just dived with no correction for quite a while now. My vision is not terrible and I have been able to read my Teric/Perdix/Predator adequately underwater, without the correction.
At my eye exam 3 weeks ago, the doctor dropped a news bomb on me that I was not aware of. I've been out of the vision correction market for 20 years. What can I say? Anyway, they now have multi-focal contact lenses. In both daily disposable and monthly extended wear varieties. That means each eye has a lens that gives one amount of correction for far vision and a different amount of correction for near vision. It's like having bifocals except that you don't have to tilt your head up or down. It's like magic. My understanding is that the very center of the lens gives one correction and then the outer ring gives a different correction. Somehow your brain just figures out what part to pay attention to.
I got some of each to try. I have to say that the first pair of dailies were almost as life-changing as when I got Lasik 20 years ago. I walked out of the doctor's office that day with lenses in and testing 20/20 for both near and far vision. They are awesome!
I talked to the doc about diving and she strongly recommended dailies for everything because of the risk of eye infections from monthlies. And she especially recommended the dailies for diving, for that reason. Water has nasty stuff in it. If it gets on your contact lens, it is much better to be able to toss the lens after diving than be in a quandary about throwing away a pair of monthly lenses after 1 day.
I got both dailies and monthlies. I take the monthlies out and put them in a storage case the night before a dive day and then put in dailies the morning of a dive day. Throw them away at the end of the day. Repeat.
The next issue was that the first day I dived with them, I don't know when I lost them, but I had lost both dailies by the end of a day of 3 dives. That is with no mask floods or removals. It just felt like my eyes got really dry at times and (probably) the lenses popped out when I blinked. That day, I did not think to check the inside of my mask after each dive to see if they were in there.
The next time I went diving, I paid more attention and after dive 1, I found my left lens stuck to the inside of my mask. Right lens was still in my eye. I put it in some cleaning solution for a bit and then put it back in. After dive 2, same thing. I left it out for dive 3, then put it back in for dive 4. It stayed in during dive 4. My right lens stayed in all day.
I've done 5 more days of diving and I think I have now worked out why I was losing lenses and I have not lost a lens in the last few days of diving.
I believe my diluted baby shampoo that I use for anti-fog is why I was losing lenses.
It has been my practice to keep a squeeze bottle of DBS (diluted baby shampoo) in my dive bag. Roughly 1 part BS to 3 or 4 parts water. I squirt it in my mask while I'm prepping my gear. Before I splash, I rub it around with my finger some to make sure the glass is clean, dump it out, then give my mask a quick dunk in water. This leaves somewhat of a film of DBS on the glass, which I thought was helping to keep it from fogging. I think it was that DBS in there that would eventually creep from my mask skirt to my skin to my eyes that was making my eyes dry and causing me to lose my lenses.
I have changed my process simply to wash my mask much more vigorously, to really kind of try to get the DBS completely out. Usually, I also end up trying to spit in my mask, swirl that around with a finger, and then another quick dunk in the water (but I don't know if that's required or not). Since I've started doing it that way, I have not lost a contact lens and I have also not had any mask fogging.
Hopefully, this will help someone else who thinks, as I did, that the only real option for being to read your computer and camera display and controls, is a mask with corrective lenses. I know contacts will not work for everyone. But, I think they'll work for a lot of people. And if they do work for you, they are awesome!
