Prescription mask

[2 Big 2 Fail]

I wore hard (old non-permeable) contact lens for many years, went to glasses (which eventually became trifocals), and also have soft contact lenses to use when I want. The contact lenses are mostly used for water surface activities, like kayaking, where splashing is a nuisance. I dive with a single vision mask with -3.00 correction. I own an old Tusa mask and a new Promate mask. I like the Tusa, because its lenses are units, looking just like the uncorrected lenses. The Promate isn't bad. Its lenses are, I suspect, plain lenses with a correction lens applied to the inside. The Tusa provides a somewhat more natural view, but the silicon is breaking down with age and starting to tear. The Promate has a slight movement effect as you move your head, probably because the lenses are physically thicker. Both provide sharp vision. (The Promate seems to be a decent mask, but I haven't had it long.)

Now, my near vision is close to being right with no correction, so with the Rx I have a bit of blur at reading/gauge distance, but I can see gauges well enough to not make mistakes. WVUdiver1: Some of your decision depends on how poor your natural vision is. My -3.00 is not so bad that I would have any difficulty on the surface without the mask, getting around the shore or boat deck, for instance, or dealing with gear. Of course, a cheap pair of glasses tucked into a pocket could deal with that if it was a problem.

I have not dived with contacts. I find I am much more tolerant of a bit less than perfection with the mask that I wouldn't like in daily surface life. And the contacts seem to me to be one more source of a problem that would be essentially unfixable under water. My vision is poor enough that I definitely want one or the other method of correction, and the mask works well for me and is cheap and trouble-free. If Tusa can tell me if the current model of the mask will accept the lenses from the old one, I'll get another good mask and change the lenses out. Otherwise, the choice of mask isn't any different from choosing a non-Rx mask. The prescription lenses aren't so expensive that it's a deal breaker, considering the life of a mask and its contribution to the dive experience. I would guess, though, that if I wore contact lenses all day, every day, I'd probably wear them diving and take extra care sterilizing them (porous material to harbor water bugs). I don't wear the contact lenses that much, because trifocal is just so much easier and better with glasses.

 

[Scuba.com]

This is one of those topics in scuba where there are good solid reasons for NOT wearing contacts and a zillion divers from Openwater all the way through instructors who say "I do it all the time. Never had a problem".

I can tell you that I'm a contact wearer, and a prescription mask user who was once married to an Ophthalmic. My ex is also a Dive Instructor with a lot of experience. It's sort of like playing Russian Roulette. You very well may never, ever have an issue just like you may never ever get the bullet. But when the possibility that my stubborn thoughts could lead to the eye problems associated with bacteria in the waters we visit and the amount of damage that can be done in an extremely short period of time, I'll pay the small fee for the prescription lenses in my mask. I've emphasized this in my ITC's and any other classes I teach with all the lovely graphic photos and warnings. I'm sure your local optician would be more than happy to show them to you as well. Your eye sight simply isn't worth the gamble.

 

[j yaeger]

i wont be without my scrip mask
way too much to see!!!!
also,i do set a good example to my students
...my mask is always on my face when i'm in the water...
(i can't see squat without glasses)
...'and this also helps teach you to breath in and out your mouth,not nose'!!!!!!!
i've never gone the contact route,but would be done if i lost them!!
have fun
yaeg

 

[Ana]

It's sort of like playing Russian Roulette. You very well may never, ever have an issue just like you may never ever get the bullet. But when the possibility that my stubborn thoughts could lead to the eye problems associated with bacteria in the waters we visit and the amount of damage that can be done in an extremely short period of time

Does your concern applies to putting on a fresh pair of contacts before the first dive and tossing them at the end of the last dive of the day?

I've had prescriptions masks in the past but it feels I'm stock using just that one mask. I like the freedom of using any of my masks whenever I feel like it, wearing contacts give me that freedom.

Topside the contacts don't quite match the correction I need so I wear progressive Rx glasses but the contacts are great for diving.

 

[Doc Harry]

I have to use a prescription mask. I carry two when I go diving.

My mask has bifocals. So I can see my camera screen up close.

If I wore contacts, I'd have to wear two differnet contact lens - one for up close and one for distance.

 

[DMDavid]

I've done the contacts when I was younger but eventually found that glasses and a prescription mask are much lower in maintenance.

My Rx is -2.00 so I can get away without a mask on the boat if need be.

My favorite mask (Dacor Ultra VU) is getting a bit old so I will have find a suitable replacement soon.

 

[Max Speed]

I normally wear bifocals so my dive mask has a distance lens for my dominant eye and a plain lens for my non-dominant eye. That way I can read my gauges up close through one eye and have clear distance vision out of my dominant eye. Works great and it was just $30 for one lens!

Of course now I can tell the difference between my dive buddy and a passing shark.....

 

[Jeeptrick]

I have a very high prescription that actually kept me from even thinking about diving.
Even on dry land I find contacts a PITA. I am currently a divemaster working a little island far from home so I have three very different prescription masks so I do not worry about a having a backup. As stated before by someone else, "I set a good example for keeping a mask in place till on the boat". I keep the masks in hard cases all the time and when I dive I put my prescription sun glasses into the container as I remove the mask and switch back when I get out of the water. I don't find it a bother at all. For the cost of dive trips and the rest of the gear and time involved the price of a couple special masks is not really of much concern. I dove with a guy who went on about how many dives he had done, was a terrible dive buddy and just stuffed an old pair of glasses with no arms inside his mask. During the dive he moved his head around quite strangely , I imagine trying to see properly through the lenses moving about in his mask. So guess how I feel about prescription masks

 

[Max Speed]

II dove with a guy who went on about how many dives he had done, was a terrible dive buddy and just stuffed an old pair of glasses with no arms inside his mask. During the dive he moved his head around quite strangely , I imagine trying to see properly through the lenses moving about in his mask.

Any idiot knows you have to use a monocle for that! And then the scary fish think you're too sinister to mess with.

 

[Scuba.com]

I have a prescription bifocal mask and one mask with see-unders (prescription for far viewing on top and regular glass on the bottom for viewing gauges. I like them both. I used to use contacts but would need monocular vision to read the gauges. Gave up contacts entirely now because of the need for bifocals. I have had both prescription masks for several years and prescription changes have not been an issue at all.

It's not even using a fresh set and tossing them at the end of the day, although that might not be a bad idea. From how its been explained to me, there are various bacteria in the water that can do a lot of damage in a little time. Like hours. And mind you again, I'm not the eye specialist. I'm just listening to what the ex- and her boss (who is one of the guys who literrally invented and developed Lazer surgery at UCLA). But the info they gave me, and the images they've shown me over the years, was more than enough for me!