Has anyone went scuba diving? And have really bad eyes?

[Hawkeye-X]

I'm looking into getting a prescription scuba diving mask, but don't know where to start.

For starters, I am using a specially made polycarbonite (high-index) lenses, or ortherwise I'd be wearing Coke-bottle glasses.

I'm very nearsighted....

Thanks for your help...

Hawkeye-X

[Kali]

1. snorkel for me

I am near sighted too - I can wear contacts, though so that is how I do it.

[pokerfan]

2. Scuba & snorkel

I just wear my contacts though I have thought about a prescription mask.

[some guy]

3. start

either with your optometrist / ophthalmologist if you don't have a current vision prescription. Ask about getting a prescription for a dive mask.

Or, if you have a current vision prescription, start at a dive shop and find a mask you like and ask about getting the lense(s) made to your prescription.

Either way, you'll probably want to price the making of the lense(s) in both places.

[DontBlameMe]

4. Check with you local dive shop

Very few optometrists do dive masks anymore. The place I worked in Chicago was the only one I've seen and that was 10 years ago.

The good news for you is diving masks are made using glass lenses. While they're heavier, you can get a 1.8 index glass lens in a plano base (a flat front curve lens), which will be about 20% thinner that poly, which is a 1.58 index. Your vision will be sharper, too, as poly has the most chromatic abberation of any lens material.

[Callalily]

5. Although I just

wear contact while diving, my friend has a prescription mask and loves it.

As stated above, your dive shop will be able to point you in the right direction.

Good luck and happy diving!



edit: just as an fyi, dive shops do have "bifocal" masks, and prices are quite reasonable.

[mikeytherat]

6. Mrs. Rat is blind as a bat (I made a rhyme!) and has a prescription mask.

As others have stated, go to your local dive shop to inquire. She loves her mask, and it makes diving in Bermuda much more pleasant and fun for her!

mikey_the_rat

[bikebloke]

7. I wear presciption ashtrays.

But when I put on a diving mask - sans specs, I can see perfectly sharp underwater. Though with some masks everything is magnified. Wee minnows look like dinosaur sharks.

[livetohike]

8. When I was certified in 1975, I was still wearing glasses

and had the lens ground into the mask. It was expensive then. Also, the mask was very heavy...I'm sure the technology had to improve by now.

I wear contact lenses (since 1977), so I just wear them and a regular mask now.

[mnhtnbb]

9. Go to your local dive shop and take your prescription with you. They will

have it applied to your mask.

First did that for my blind as a bat brother in the early 80's; hubby has done it for several masks.

I'm sure the technology has improved, too.

No problem.

[kwassa]

10. Get contacts, it's probably cheaper.

I'm very near-sighted, too, and that is what worked for me.

[BlueCollar]

11. Plenty of options for you out there

Already mentioned. I haven't been diving in years but used to have a prescription dive mask. I bought the mask at the local dive-shop and provided them with the scrip. They special ordered from the manufacturer...Don't remember which one.

Very satisfied although it took awhile to get focus settings right on the camera...

[coffeenap]

12. I love my prescription mask--

my scrip has changed since I had it made at the dive shop but I still get great vision--worth every penny for this avid snorkeler (someday diver).

[dysfunctional press]

13. my wife decided to get contact lenses when we started diving.

and that's really about the only time she uses them.

[applegrove]

14. The water does magnify down there. So fish and everything will look a bit bigger. That'll help.