Diving with contacts

[BRT]

No worries. When Russian Roulette is played, 5 out of 6 times there's no round in the chamber.

What's truly disturbing is that while you are free to take chances with your own vision there's a potential innocent victim here - your wife who blindly takes your word for it when you say "Don't worry honey your vision will clear up like it always does, no harm done it's just gas bubbles inside the lens your eyes will be just fine". You don't know this, you can't know this.

Sometimes the cylinder is larger than that. So far since starting diving before my certification in 1985 the bullet hasn't come out of the barrel. I don't know how many dives we have. We stopped logging in the early 90's at about 200

Sure thing, all good.




It's highly unlikely that the fogging is inside the lens, it's much more likely that you are experiencing blurred vision from corneal edema especially given your history of corneal pathology. But we are begging the question here. Why do you just assume it's the contact lens - in both you and your wife's situation, and completely dismiss other possibilities that might be fixable?

Refer to this DAN Article that is partly based on Dr. Butler's article and gives several different reasons for blurred vision while wearing RGP contact lenses while diving. None of the given reasons are "gas bubbles in the contact lens".

DAN | Medical Frequently Asked Questions

Why don't you stop messing around with your already compromised vision AND your wife's vision and conclusively determine the underlying cause of the blurred visoin rather than making guesses and continuing on doing the same thing because you haven't yet experienced any long term problems? I propose an experiment that just might turn on a lightbulb in your head, although it's admittedly not a controlled clinical scientific study and is somewhat subjective and prone to bias on the part of the subject, but like I said it just might open your eyes.[/QUOTE]
Because after many years of doing some things without an issue I'm not interested in trying to make them an issue. An experiment would be kind of hard because we don't get the fogging every dive, or even very many dives. But over the years it has happened many times, and seems to happen to my wife and I on the same dives. How would you do an experiment? Repeated dives with the same near NDL profiles and change lens curves and compositions? Looks like I might get a DCS hit before I could begin to cover the combinations. This isn't something that I know is going to happen on a given dive, just that it does happen on occasion.

Why would the fogging NOT be in the lens? You have that fluid filled gas permeable surface exposed to high pressure gas inside the mask for the duration of the dive. It almost has to be saturated and that gas would have to come out.

 

[BRT]

This is kind of funny. It appears the studies and problems were for Polymethylmethacrylate lenses not RGP's. I am sure that I wore PMMA lenses while diving, but certainly few if any people do now. I can understand the non permeable lens trapping gas bubbles behind it.

 

[caruso]

With the fogging I get no symptom or sensation that would suggest edema.

Foggy vision IS typically the primary symptom of corneal edema.

 

[BRT]

Foggy vision IS typically the primary symptom of corneal edema.

"
What are the Symptoms of Corneal Swelling?
Many patients seek treatment for corneal swelling after noticing that their vision is becoming blurred. Other common symptoms of corneal swelling include:
• Glare or haloes around lights
• Sensitivity to light and/or touch
• Scratching sensation in the eye
• In severe or advanced cases, blisters may form on the surface of the eye"

I don't get any of the other 4 from diving. Corneal swelling doesn't help contact fit. Been there, done that. Don't know if I have had blisters but I sure have seen the other 3.

 

[caruso]

How would you do an experiment? Repeated dives with the same near NDL profiles and change lens curves and compositions? Looks like I might get a DCS hit before I could begin to cover the combinations. This isn't something that I know is going to happen on a given dive, just that it does happen on occasion.

I already explained how to do an experiment that might have to be tried on several dives before being able to measure the blur, and not expose you to some sort of DSC hit, I can't explain it any better than I did the first time other than to say it's not a big deal to throw on your glasses before and after each dive to see if the occasions that you get blurred vision are due to the contacts or to a process that is occurring within your eyes.

Why would the fogging NOT be in the lens? You have that fluid filled gas permeable surface exposed to high pressure gas inside the mask for the duration of the dive. It almost has to be saturated and that gas would have to come out.

 

[caruso]

"
What are the Symptoms of Corneal Swelling?
Many patients seek treatment for corneal swelling after noticing that their vision is becoming blurred. Other common symptoms of corneal swelling include:
• Glare or haloes around lights
• Sensitivity to light and/or touch
• Scratching sensation in the eye
• In severe or advanced cases, blisters may form on the surface of the eye"

I don't get any of the other 4 from diving. Corneal swelling doesn't help contact fit. Been there, done that. Don't know if I have had blisters but I sure have seen the other 3.

I see that you posted that corneal edema causes blurred vision and halos around lights among other symptoms. Thanks for repeating (and acknowledging) what I've been saying all along- that you have one or more symptoms that are associated with corneal edema- although I see that you edited your repost to remove "I don't get any of the other 4 from diving. Corneal swelling doesn't help contact fit. Been there, done that. Don't know if I have had blisters but I sure have seen the other 3" after you posted it for reasons I can speculate on.

So what are you going to do about it?

 

[BRT]

I already explained how to do an experiment that might have to be tried on several dives before being able to measure the blur, and not expose you to some sort of DSC hit, I can't explain it any better than I did the first time other than to say it's not a big deal to throw on your glasses before and after each dive to see if the occasions that you get blurred vision are due to the contacts or to a process that is occurring within your eyes.

If I could get any vision with glasses I'd be happy to wear them sometimes. But I can't. So I wear my contacts from the time I get up until I go to bed, sometimes 18, occasionally 24 hours.

 

[caruso]

@BRT why did you edit your post to remove "I don't get any of the other 4 from diving. Corneal swelling doesn't help contact fit. Been there, done that. Don't know if I have had blisters but I sure have seen the other 3"

 

[BRT]

I see that you posted that corneal edema causes blurred vision and halos around lights among other symptoms. Thanks for repeating (and acknowledging) what I've been saying all along- that you have one or more symptoms that are associated with corneal edema.

So what are you going to do about it?

That would not be one or more. That would be one symptom. One occasional symptom does not a diagnosis make. Especially with no long term problems over decades.

What am I going to do? I am going to continue diving. I really like it. And I'm not going to worry about things that I have found do not give me problems. You sound like the guys agonizing over hot fills on steel tanks when they cannot give a single proven example of a problem being caused. Are you in that group too?

 

[BRT]

@BRT why did you edit your post to remove "I don't get any of the other 4 from diving. Corneal swelling doesn't help contact fit. Been there, done that. Don't know if I have had blisters but I sure have seen the other 3"

Check post #94