Eyes Open or Closed while performing the Mask Clearing Skills?

[VikingDives]

Open when I'm teaching mask removal/flood regardless of environment. If i'm just diving, who cares? If I wore contacts, I don't know, there's a gap in my knowledge, but I've seen many contact wearing students swim for quite some time and never lose anything...

 

[SlugLife]

Closed, mostly because of contacts.

 

[inquis]

I've seen many contact wearing students swim for quite some time and never lose anything

Soft lenses are comparatively large in diameter. A slight squint has always locked 'em down for me swimming underwater. (Just think how difficult they are to insert without getting hung up on the upper or lower lids.) I can't speak to hard lenses.

 

[SlugLife]

It might depend on the types of contacts. I find inserting lenses easy. I have lost one lens while scuba-diving & had another get stuck under my eye-lid for a while. Contacts tend to slide around and get stuck in the wrong position if I get water in my eyes often enough to be rather annoying.

If you have daily contacts, losing a contact might be less of a big deal.

 

[Diverlady13]

It might depend on the types of contacts. I find inserting lenses easy. I have lost one lens while scuba-diving & had another get stuck under my eye-lid for a while. Contacts tend to slide around and get stuck in the wrong position if I get water in my eyes often enough to be rather annoying.

If you have daily contacts, losing a contact might be less of a big deal.

Agree. I've never lost a lens in the water, even if I have to open my eyes. However, I've had them slide around a bit which is pretty annoying (and difficult to fix underwater) if the lens gets trapped under a lid. I have zero issue inserting contacts and don't find them overly large. Also, I wear monthlies and I don't really worry about the cost of losing them. I worry more about being able to see. I'm very very nearsighted, so losing a lens underwater isn't ideal. Losing both would not be good at all. Safer for me to just keep my eyes closed. I'm pretty adept at mask removal and clearing skills though, so it's not like I'd be blind for long.

 

[jonhall]

I don't want my eyes open for any reason in or around chlorine.

Closed in pool usually due to chlorine

Not saying that chlorine doesn't have an effect on eyes from pool water (because it can), but having managed pools for quite a few years, generally when eyes sting, it is a sign more chlorine is needed to take care of the contaminants people bring or put into the pool water that throws the pH level out of whack, which in turn can make your eyes sting.

I keep my eyes closed when clearing salt water from flooded mask because of the sting - hmmm - wonder if the sting is from the salt?

 

[mc42]

@jonhall Good point bringing up other lovely stuff in pool water as the stinging factor. I also didn't mention as well in the ocean, there's nasty stuff for eyeballs like algae, critters, sand, debris, jellyfish, etc. so it's not all perfect there either!

I do find generally less stinging eyes after exposure in seawater than most pools I've been in. It could just be that my eyeballs are being frozen so I can't feel anything until after the stuff has flushed out!

 

[Wibble]

Open unless it's really cold -- it hurts! Main thing is ensuring that you're not floating off anywhere, so you need your eyes to keep control.

When it's warm water it's almost a pleasant experience and no trouble whatsoever. Cold is miserable.

 

[formernuke]

I did pool mask drills in the pool a while back and kept my eyes open......my eyes burned for days after. So in pool closed. If I'm diving and need to clear, open.

 

[TMHeimer]

Not saying that chlorine doesn't have an effect on eyes from pool water (because it can), but having managed pools for quite a few years, generally when eyes sting, it is a sign more chlorine is needed to take care of the contaminants people bring or put into the pool water that throws the pH level out of whack, which in turn can make your eyes sting.

I keep my eyes closed when clearing salt water from flooded mask because of the sting - hmmm - wonder if the sting is from the salt?

Thanks for explaining it. Doesn't matter, my eyes still closed in the pool.
Regarding salt water, my layman's guess is it is the salt and not the creatures in it.