Vision correction

[gypsyjim]

I just purchased two Seavision bi-focal masks: one for myself and another for a friend. They are not cheap, costing me @$240/ea for bi-focal prescript, but it was getting more difficult to read guages and the camera, and we are quite happy with the new masks.

 

[Stirling]

I wear disposable soft lens contacts, which I only use for diving (the prescription is not optimal for everyday use). I buy a three month supply of 90 lenses for each eye for about $90-100. If I do lose one in the water (and I never have yet), I have another half dozen for each eye in my dive bag, and replacing the pair costs about $1. Wearing these also allows me to wear cheap sunglasses, instead of risking a pair of expensive prescription sunglasses on a boat or beach.

The left eye correction is better for near vision, reading gauges, and the right eye correction is better for distance. That's why I don't use them at work or around the house, although my vision is really pretty good for most purposes. It took very little time to get used to this setup.

When I first got them, I got over the concern about losing them in the water by using about a half dozen pair in a swimming pool for a week, practising flooding my mask with eyes open and closed, swimming with my mask off and eyes barely open, etc. I didn't lose a single lens. Obviously, if you are going to deliberately remove or flood your mask, you want to close your eyes (or mostly close your eyes) just to be sure the water doesn't wash out one of your lenses, but I think the risk of losing a lens is pretty small even if your mask gets knocked out of place and flooded when you aren't expecting it.

 

[jonnythan]

I too have been wearing soft contacts since way before I started diving. No issues, even with mask-off drills and so forth. Never been a problem at all. I also have a few friends who opted for prescription masks and that works well too, if you can find the lenses for your prescription.

 

[CHSpaintballer2]

Soft contacts are an option. The salinity of the water they are exposed to will affect the fit with salt water making them expand a bit and fresh water making them shrink and there is spme potential for them to be washed out of the eye if the mask is removed. But on the other hand, I have dove with soft contacts since 1985 and I have never lost one diving. So unless you plan on removing your mask on a regular basis with your eyes open soft contacts should work fine.

Pre-made correctively lenses are only available in a few masks and in 1/4 to 1/2 diopter increments to correct near sightedness. But you can have almost any custom made corrective lens bonded to just about any scuba mask and the cost is normally less or at least no more than a set of glasses and frames. Your eye doctor should be able to refer you to an optical shop that can do the work.

That's what I did, I got a mask with my prescription bonded to the lens. I've got 425 over 20 in my left eye and 400 over 20 in my right eye, so I am definitely legally blind. Hope that'll work for your circumstances.