cdiver2:
I always used sea drops and never a problem. On a recent trip to Roatan I had forgot to pack the sea drops, so I used my wifes home made brew that she had used for years. After 50 minutes into the dive I had some fogging so I let some water into the mask. About five minutes after the dive (60 min) I started to get a grey vale sensation in front of my eyes, this got worse the brighter the light got. After about an hour I started to get pain in my eyes, again this increased as the amount of light increased and eventually this got so bad I could not open my eyes. Off to the Drs at the chamber at AK. The first thing he asked any other symptoms "no" so he ruled out a bend as this was Roatan the facilities for eye work were not that good and after a examination the Dr said he thinks it was the defog. He bandaged my eyes and told me if they were no any better the next morning to go to the mainland for medical service. Even with the bandage on and sunglasses the pain was unbearable if I looked at a bright light source.
The next morning I took the bandages off and could see again but it felt like I had grit in my eyes, also still sensitive to bright light I kept the bandages and sun glasses on until the next morning when I found my eyes were back to normal.
Once back state side I went straight to a optomologist and had my eyes tested, no permanent damage and she also said she thought it was the defog that gave me a chemical burn, she also told me spiting in the mask is not a good idea as there is so much bacteria in it that the eyes can not deal with.
I am sorry to hear this CDiver2. As a manufacturer of what I would call a 'quality' defog I am aware that there are homemade products around which are 'adequate', but your case is particularly unfortunate.
As a guess I'd say the homemade defog you were using was simply straight domestic washing up detergent.
If making a good defog was this simple, we'd be out of business, or I could save us a heck of a lot of trouble by simply bottling commercial stuff already available.
Its not that simple. Washing up detergent is concentrated (30% plus), contains ingredients which dissolve and disperse fats and grease, and is water soluble and foams a lot. The manufacturers prefer you to wear rubber gloves when using a few quirts in a bowl of water, and they tell you to rinse your hands after use... all not good signs as to eye hazard.
As a defog, washing detergent is reasonable, although it creates a lot of smear on your mask surface, and will readily dissolve in water.. so it wont last very long, especially when your get water in your mask. And when you do, it will dissolve and then you will get a concentrated solution in your eye, which I think is what happened to you. Commercial detergent is alkaline, which will indeed cause burning to exposed flesh.
Even most of the market leading brands of defog have 'eye irritant' on the bottle as a warning. Ours, Salclear AquaSport, does not, because the ingredients are intrinsically safer than most, and you can also use it on your kids swimming goggles. Yes there are hazard warnings, but these are precautions rather than implying that the product is inherently hazardous.
A good quality defog should have the following properties: wash off resistant, humidity resilient, easy to use, economical in use (ours is a spray), low smear, low hazards. Most commercial defogs dont have all of these, and the homemade ones may have one.. with the added benefit that they are of course very cheap.
Our product is also a zipper lube and mask prep and cleaning fluid too, so its a three in one.
The question then becomes, would you rather have a cheap product that doesnt work well (and causes eye injury), or a more expensive one which works well and in fact you forget you are even using it. Technology does come at a price I am afraid.
best seasonal wishes, Pippa
