Salt Water Sensitivity?

[Scuba_Jenny]

Has anybody heard of a person being sensitive to salt water, the eyes specifically?

Yesterday while diving and doing a skills review I had to take off my mask and replace it. I opened my eyes up underwater. As soon as I got to the surface, I noticed that it seemed like my vision was a little cloudy. Well, since this happened once before, I blamed it on not rinsing my mask well enough with the defog. I continued diving.

By the time I got home everything was blurry, and dull. My eyes itched, and were painful. I tried to flush some cold water on them, but they just burned more and continued to tear up, especially if there was light.

I layed down for a few hours to rest them, got up and almost immediatley they started tearing again, and the pain started. Blame it on the defog. Or so I thought. I have been using the same bottle of defog for a long time now, to the point the bottle is almost empty. I never had a problem like this until last December when my eyes fogged over. Then I blamed it on the defog.

However, I have done a dozen dives since then, have used the same defog and nary a problem. So, I got to thinking, maybe it was the salt water. I remember from the December dive the current was ripping, and my mask did fill with water on the way down the line.

The previous time this happened, my eyes hurt so bad that I went to the doctor, but by the time he saw me, my eyes had cleared up and there was no trace of scratches, or injury. This morning when I woke up, all was fine also.

So, my conclusion is that my eyes are sensitive to salt water. Anybody ever hear of this? If so, any suggestions to remedy the situation if the symptoms appear again? Would flushing with saline solution after the dive help?

 

[JustinW]

I don't have a clue, although if you are using the defog, and this only happens when your mask floods, maybe it is the defog, forming a slick on the surface adn getting into your eyes. I haven't seen any defog that says hypoallergenic. I know tears have quite a bit of salt in them already. Unless you are in polluted water, things seem to point to the chemicals you are putting in your mask. I have this special defog i sell off my website (jk). But it takes me about an hour to fill up one little bottle full of spit, so I can't sell much.

Next dive, try scrubbing your mask several times with toothpaste to make sure the chemical residue is totally gone, them try just using spit, if your mask fogs, just partially flood it and then clear again.

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, I don't even play one on TV. Just a nobody with an opinion without any medical basis. Not a substitute for medical advice or treatment. Ask a doctor. My ideas are not to be construed as advice.

 

[MoonWrasse]

I recently had my annual eye examination, and discused my diving with my doctor.
Sea water, and for syre warm sea water is a septic environment. Your eyes a like a perfect petri dish, which is not a good thing.

In short you may have some type of infection. One thing I can suggest is a product called "Celuvisc", which are very viscus eye drops. They have helped me several times over the years to heal my eyes.

http://www.allergan.com/site/products/practitioners/home.asp?id=celluvisc&largeText=no

 

[murphdivers286]

Sorry about you problem. I hope it is the defog....

 

[Divingnthedark]

Sounds like a mild allergic reaction to me, since it cleared up without need for an antibiotic opthalmic solution or ointment, I don't think it was infection by bacteria as suggested by moonwrasse. The burning and tearing sounds like an allergic type reaction. We don't know if it was from the salt water or the defog. Try baby shampoo to clean your mask and rinse before diving... the saltwater getting in your eyes is an unpredictable factor. BTW if this happened to me I would probably try Benadryl 50mg (Diphenhydramine Hydochloride), available over the counter, which is commonly used to treat mild allergic symptoms although it might make you sleepy so I wouldn't drive or dive after taking it. BTW saline eye drops are probably not the answer, if it is an allergic reaction, but it's always best to check with your doctor. Hope this helps,
Loretta

 

[simbrooks]

I am going to start from the simple angle here, could it be just the salt water evaporating and leaving salt crystals on your eyes? The very reason some folks dont want to open their eyes or take their mask off is due to the stinging sensation they get when the salty water on the surface of the eyes dries when back in the air. It does usually go away fairly quickly. If you have done this many times before in the salt water with no problem, then maybe it is your defog or maybe its all kinds of nasties in the water due to the recent rainstorms we have been getting incessently? Have you seen a doc about this yet Jenny?

 

[pennypue]

I have to say I'm a big fan of Celluvisc. I have very dry eyes. I've had that stuff save me. The surface of my eyes (forget what it was called) was so dry that it was very cloudy. Everything looked like there was a lot of fog. The surface was very irritated. Your eyes sound similar. They might just be dry and irritated from the salt getting in them. Cellulvisc is actually very thick and will make your vision blurry. It has a moisturizer in it. If you instead use the Cellufresh, same manufacturer and they come in convenient little one use tubes, it won't blur your vision. It contains a little less of the moisturizer, but it should help. It's over the counter so I don't see how it could hurt. YMMV