Prescription Lens for Dive Mask

Hi I am planning to get prescription lenses for my dive mask. Was wondering if you correct for the magnification of the water when picking prescription lens?

i.e. my actual grades are -2.50 for both left and right eyes, do I need to get a lower diopter of -2.00 to compensate for water magnification? Or there isn’t any value in doing this, and just get it in my actual grade. Thanks.

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The best (maybe not cheapest) is to get custom made prescription lenses made for your preferred mask.  Either send in your current mask, assuming you like it, or buy a second copy for the lenses.  Provide your current full prescription from your optometrist.  You'll get a mask you know fits with proper corrected vision.  I have recently used this company and was very satisfied.  

prescriptiondivemasks.com

As Dave says. Just your normal prescription, nothing special to correct for water. Bifocals if you require them too (which I have used for years).

Use daily contact lenses for diving just throw them away after each dive.

Second the mention of prescriptiondivemasks in San Diego. We have used them for years

Bill

I too have used Prescription dive in SanDiego for over 15 years.  Always very happy with their work and turn-around.

Brant

thanks everyone for the replies, I decided to go with my normal prescriptions and had that installed onto my mask. 

On 10/3/2020 at 4:56 AM, Pomacentridae said:

 

Hi I am planning to get prescription lenses for my dive mask. Was wondering if you correct for the magnification of the water when picking prescription lens?

 

I'm still using the first mask I bought back in 2006 when my late wife got me into diving.   It had pop-out lenses to be replaced with the diopters of your choice.   Those diopters were available in 0.5 diopter steps at the local Sports Chalet.

Picking the right ones was simple.  I took off my glasses, held up a diopter to one eye and tried to read the clock on the wall.   The one that worked best got into the mask.  Then I repeated with the other eye.   245 dives later, I still see fine out of it.    The water will make things look closer/bigger, but it won't change your vision.   Use what works well above water.  My diopters were 6.0 and 6.5.  My prescription is 6.25/6.5.

I am still waiting for good options for + scripts. Not so easy for us far sighted multfocaled divers  that I know of. I still use a +3 for distance in my dominant eye and a +6 for reading my gauges in my weak eye. My brain turns off the appropriate eye in any situation underwater but does get a but tired using this system topside. If I tried to get this with glass I wouldn't need weights!

Not all masks are prepared to receive graduated lenses. 

My advise is first to find a mask than can receive graduated lenses than fits your face and get comfortable to use. Then purchase the right lenses for the mask.

Several brands has masks that can receive graduated lenses and they produce the different lenses also. 

Another way is if the mask is ready to have lens changed, to find an optical center that makes ones. It is mode difficult than buy the graduated lens from the brand, but can be made. My wife has a mask graduated like this.

11 hours ago, polyroly said:

I am still waiting for good options for + scripts. Not so easy for us far sighted multfocaled divers  that I know of. I still use a +3 for distance in my dominant eye and a +6 for reading my gauges in my weak eye. My brain turns off the appropriate eye in any situation underwater but does get a but tired using this system topside. If I tried to get this with glass I wouldn't need weights!

Masks with pop-out lenses at different strength work only for divers that do not have astigmatism nor prespyobia. I have both and would not like to take different lenses for reading gauges and seeing UW on the two glasses. Here in Europe we have companies that glue optical lenses of all kind into a dive mask: You first select (almost) any mask that fits your face and then they glue the lenses, according to the presciption, into the mask. It is not cheap (approx. 650 Euro for a multifocal mask with correction for shortsightedness plus astigmatism), but it is worth every cent. I can see everything sharp, from gauges to the writing on the backscreen of the camera and also at far distance and this completely relaxed..

Wolfgang

5 hours ago, Architeuthis said:

I have both and would not like to take different lenses for reading gauges and seeing UW on the two glasses.

That's great Wolfgang!, last time I checked (around 12 years ago) the American company that produces these masks declined my request for my old +6 prescription. They just couldn't manage the thickness. If you can post the contact I will call them next week. I am affraid that I was not clear - I wear these prescriptions as contacts, not as glass - there are no 'pop in' lenses that go north of +3 so I am out of luck there as well. I am getting nervous as my contacts are not made stronger than +7.5 so I am near to be SOL if my eyes degrade further.

1 hour ago, polyroly said:

That's great Wolfgang!, last time I checked (around 12 years ago) the American company that produces these masks declined my request for my old +6 prescription. They just couldn't manage the thickness. If you can post the contact I will call them next week. I am affraid that I was not clear - I wear these prescriptions as contacts, not as glass - there are no 'pop in' lenses that go north of +3 so I am out of luck there as well. I am getting nervous as my contacts are not made stronger than +7.5 so I am near to be SOL if my eyes degrade further.

Hi Polyroly,

This was the company: https://tauchmaske.de/ustanovka-linz-226

They offer lenses made from glass with special refractive index for high dioptries, +7.5 should work...

Only problem is that they are in the EU (there are several other companies here in EU that offer similar service). I guess there are similar companies in Canda and this will be better for you, but I do not know wich...

Wolfgang

I was also considering to modify my dive mask, but then I tried out the one-day-contact-lenses and I found it a very comfortable way of dealing with the issue. 

My moderator colleague, Chris Ross, and I commented recently on the joys of aging and the impact on vision.....

After a couple of years of using reading glasses I decided recently it was time to do something about my mask.  Reading REEF survey sheets and, on occasion, camera controls was becoming something of, shall we say, a challenge.

On a recent dive trip I heard about the US-based company See the Sea  who could do all sorts of prescription tricks with masks including supply your own for lenses ot be fitted.

I decided to take the, err, plunge, and sent them a new Cressi mask and a prescription for reader lenses . Hey presto, a couple of weeks later the mask arrived back, beautifully fitted out with reader lenses bonded in the lower area of the mask. Holy smoke! I can SEE! The difference is incredible. 

I can heartily recommend See the Sea. Great service, great produce, great price.

https://seethesearx.com

I can also recommend the "get wet store" https://getwetstore.com/ which has inexpensive prescription masks. I bought one - somewhat skeptical about the low price and dove it a while and then bought a second for backup on trips.  They are totally fine (in a good way) and about half the cost of other sources.  

This was after I went down the route of ordering different masks with built in readers.  The two I bought really stunk.  One would just never not fog, and the other was just annoying if I needed to read something other than my gauges (like a camera or dive slate).

Most masks fit my face so I wasn't super worried about ordering something without trying it on.  But that is not the case for everyone.