Perscription scuba mask

[amalthia]

Has anyone on my flist bought a scuba mask recently that required prescription lens? If so any advice? Has anyone had experience with the pre-made lenses that they insert into the frame? 10 years ago they were gluing the lens on the inside of the mask and I don't remember having any troubles seeing out of the mask.

I can't seem to find any good reviews on the pros and cons of either method. The scuba diving shop also said they can't correct for astigmatism.

Every year I'm tempted to get the lasik surgery. It would save time and money in the long run.

Comments

[par_avion]

Someone on my flist was posting abt this, maybe niqaeli?

[amalthia]

thanks! I'll check out her journal. :)

[endeni]

What about about wearing contact lenses under the mask? Is that a feasible option? (Seems to me it would surely be a less pricey one...)

LOL, I have a strong myopia myself and I can definitely understand the temptation of lasik...

[amalthia]

I tried contacts before and it didn't quite work out. Plus I've heard that if water gets in the mask it can wash out contact lens.

[endeni]

Oh, that doesn't sound ideal then, not at all. *shakes head*

[amalthia]

To be fair I've heard other people have worn contacts while swimming with a scuba mask and did okay. I think I was told worst case scenario. The good news is that I will not be reading underwater so I should be fine even if the prescription lens aren't perfect.

[blnchflr]

I can imagine people swimming with those day lenses - it'd be no particular harm if you lost one.

[amalthia]

Good point. :) I think I may have to look into contact lenses it's been 10 years since I've last tried. I hear they've improved a lot sense then. :)

[blnchflr]

I tried them a couple of years ago, and they were definitely comfier than the hard gaspermeables I had in the mid-90's. But after a few days, my right eye started getting irritated in the exact same place it did all those years ago, and I had to give them up again :(

[amalthia]

The problem I ran into is that every time I rubbed my eyes the lens would shift and it was a pain to fix. :(

[amalthia]

the other hassle is that I'm in Alaska so all lens have to be shipped up here. At this point trying out different lens isn't much of an option. I'm tempted to stop by a few dive shops while in Texas or Hawaii and see what I can learn.

[rheasilvia]

I have no advice about the scuba mask, but as someone who's also been playing with the thought of lasik surgery... someone on my LJ friendslist is having an awful time right now because of a progressive eye disease called keratoconus, which is evidently a consequence of her lasik surgery. Her cornea is deforming more and more, and may already be too thin for even the semi-experimental treatment cross-linking (which isn't actually a cure either but would just stop the degeneration) to work.

It's rather changed my outlook on lasik, so I thought I'd share. It appears to be a fairly rare problem, but even so.

[amalthia]

Thanks for the update. I haven't heard of anything bad that can happen from Lasik. It's good to know some of the worst case scenarios. I think I'll muddle on through life with glasses.

[waketosleep]

Speaking as someone who worked in optical...

I've never sold Rx scuba goggles but I have sold Rx safety glasses and sports goggles. The problem with the insertable lenses and astigmatism tends to be that the mini-frame that holds the lenses pops into place in the actual mask, and it will frequently do this by bending in the bridge. Those lenses can't be done as aspheric (ie. with astigmatism correction) because you'll fuck up the axis as soon as you bend the frame to fit the lenses in the mask/goggles/whatever; it changes the axis of the lens on you and then you can't see clearly and maybe get headaches. So if you're getting the kind that snap into a mask, you'll need a snap-in frame that is rigid.

Alternatively, if your Rx for astigmatism is mild (like under +/-2.00 cyl), get your optometrist to write you a new Rx for a spheric lens, specifically for your scuba mask. Then you can fill that. Most optometrists shouldn't really have a problem doing that for the reason you want it; it doesn't make sense that they would.

Hopefully that helped some?

[amalthia]

Thanks for the advice, sadly my prescription is for my spheres -4 on both eyes. I decided to go for the option where they ground the lens to fit my prescription instead of using the lens out of the box. I didn't know optometrist could give prescriptions for other types of frames. :)

[waketosleep]

There are three columns of numbers on your prescription, labelled Sph, Cyl and Axis (or sometimes the actual words). It's the numbers under Cyl that concern your astigmatism, so if the -4.00 isn't that number then you still have that option. A Cyl as high as -4 doesn't leave you with many options, though. However, that would be an unusually high Cyl so yeah, double check your prescription. Glad you were able to find a lens style that worked, though.

[amalthia]

Thanks for the explanation. :) I wasn't sure what each column meant.