Eyes open under water..?

[aaronkok]

I'm planning to take up OW cert soon. I have a phobia of opening my eyes underwater.. Tried it a few times and never managed to do it.

Any idea how to "take care" of this problem? I know this is one of the pre-requisites, especially the mask flooding practice.. and also the emergencies.

 

[scuberd]

you can try being on the surface of a pool, with mask and snorkle on and slowly fill the mask with water in stages. as soon as you are uncomfortable dump the water out and start over. Hopefully you will gradually get more and more water in your mask and it will help you get over that fear. And being in the pool, the water will be much better on your eyes than the salt water of the ocean

just my 2¢

 

[nickjb]

I never liked this when I started either.

AFAIK There is no requirement to open your eyes during open water training. Your instructor can guide you through all the mask off exercises.

If you can get used to it (I did) then you will find the exercises easier. Personally I prerered the sea to a pool with lots of chlorine. I also prefered having the mask off rather than flooded (but that is more to do with breathing out through the nose).

If you can find a pool with very few chemicals in then you might find that easier. You could even practice in the bath

I think the key is to just do it. Get your face in the water, brace yourself and open your eyes. It is hard but you will get over it. Let us know how you get on.

 

[Tim Cavender]

Get in shallow end of pool; dip your face into the water with eyes shut, then gradually open your eyes with subsequent dips. This desensitizing exercise is surprisingly powerful! Check out http://www.mindspring.com/~divegeek/nmask.htm
BTW: suggest you add at least your location to your profile. IMO,"Somewhere over the rainbow" sounds like you don't really care about this Board

 

[SDAnderson]

Tim nailed it - a slow process of desensitizing is the answer.

So, how is the weather in Oz?

Steven

 

[jepuskar]

Just remember, no matter how hard you try to look..everything is still going to look fuzzy, that is normal.

I agree with what the others say...start gradually. The chlorine might burn your eyes, but it shouldn't take you too long to get use to it.

Try opening them in increasing longer intervals

2 seconds

4 seconds

8 seconds

12 seconds

If you can do it for that long then your already where you need to be.

Good luck, lets us know how you do.

Jason

 

[cat]

Yup - like jep says, fuzzy is normal. This is because our eyes didn't evolve to focus underwater (where's a nictitating membrane when you really need one?). The "gradual assimilation" mentioned by others works ok but there's a few things you can do to make it easier on your eyes. First one is try to do your course in a saltwater pool. These pools (salinity about 1/10 of ocean - barely brackish to taste) generate chlorine electrochemically on demand, so they usually have lower (but more stable) chlorine levels. Even in regular pools, chlorination levels can vary a lot and the more there is, the worse your eyes will probably feel. (afraid i've got to disagree with scuberd on this one - the salt in the ocean never stings my eyes the way pool chlorine does - nor should it, though there may be other irritants present depending on where you are) Bathtub water may be as bad as pool water - it's chlorinated too! You might not "get used to" the chlorine sting, BTW, so don't get discouraged if you don't. Eyes open in lakewater should be easier.
Second trick - take a bottle of saline with you and rinse your eyes out right afterwards. (NOT the saline used to store contac lenses but the stuff specifically intended for direct use in the eyes.) You can also try filling a pair of swimming goggles with the stuff to see what "eyes open" feels like in a nice isotonic solution with no chlorine sting.
Third - try opening your eyes just a little bit at first. Reducing the opening to slits reduces the exposere to the water and may feel less vulnerable than having them wide open.
Don't see why anyone should feel pressured to put in a location on their profile if they don't want to - any more than they should feel pressured to use their real names. After all, plenty of others don't put in a location (jep, for instance, seems to have left the SOUTHSIIIDE of Chicago recently for points unknown ). I assumed it was an oblique way of saying "Australia" but if someone wants to claim Munchkinland and membership in the lollipop guild in their profile, don't see why they shouldn't. Just my $.02 (CAN)

 

[aaronkok]

Thanks for all your replies,

Sure will update you guys once i'm ready to start my OW.
I have a fear of items on my eyes.. it's a wierd feeling, even looking at sharp points even in a movies makes me uneasy.. :bonk:

But will try soon..

About my location, I'm from Malaysia.. There is no reason why i don't put it in,, just felt cooky the day i registered.

 

[Firefly]

:wave:I kept my eyes closed whenever we did mask flooding because of my contacts, my instructor just tapped me on the shoulder when my mask was clear, it didn't seem to be a problem and a few of us in the class did this....if you can't overcome the fear of open eyes, perhaps you can just do it closed.

 

[Dectek]

Will you always have an Instructor with you to tell you that your mask is clear? There will be a time that you are going to have to find out for your self that your mask is clear. I hate opening my eyes in salt or overly chlorinated water but it is a practice that you WILL HAVE to learn if you want to dive.

Even with contact lens you can sneek a peek with a squint. More contacts are lost to rubbing a dry irritated eye that to opening your eyes under water. Some doctors will even tell you that the water pressure will help hold then tight to your eyes.

More important is the practice of removing your contacts shortly after leaving the pool environment and give them a good soaking in saline solution to get rid of the contaminants they absorbed.