Newbie, question about my wetsuit

[Ciphered]

Hi there!

Just bought my very first wetsuit, a BARE Elastek 7mm, after having rented a few times. And... it's really tight (duh). The legs seem to fit well as the neoprene goes well around them and offers a nice snug fit while the torso is a tiny bit more loose but if that becomes a real problem I'll probably put a neoprene vest (2mm-3mm) under it. As you may tell, I'm diving in fairly cold waters (20C/68F).

I'm more concerned about my arms, especially my hands. When the suit is on, veins in my hand seem a bit more protuberant than usual. Plus, when I raise my hands above the level of my heart, which in a normal case makes these veins "disappear", well the veins stay bulky. I have otherwise not felt any numbness nor seen much redness in my hands so I guess it's not that bad. But all of this to say that I feel that the suit is a bit overly tight on the forearms and hands.

Now since I only bought this suit a couple days ago I haven't had the chance to try it in water yet. Should I expect my hands to feel a little better in the water? Is the neoprene going to be easier to stretch when wet? Is it going to loosen up, even just a little, over time?

At the moment I'm just a little scared to be stuck with a new, expensive wetsuit that I won't be able to use :-/

Thanks everyone.

 

[Dive Right In Scuba 2]

Overall is the suit uncomfortable? Personally, when I buy a new suit I throw it on and get it wet(yes I have jumped in the shower with a suit on before). I've found that if you get a suit wet and move around in it that it tends to "slide around" on your body and the fit finds itself.

Funny story...I once made a trip to Florida for some cave diving and my dry suit developed a bad leak. So I picked up a cheap 5 mil from the LDS...put it on and immediately did a cannonball into the run at Ginnie Springs to get the suit wet.

So...get it on and wet...let us know how that works out.