A common question asked by new divers is whether you can go scuba diving with glasses. Unfortunately, you cannot use your prescription glasses during a dive as the mask cannot seal onto your face properly. However, there are many options for divers who wear glasses on-land that we will look into below. You may also be surprised to find out that some glasses wearers don’t actually need their glasses underwater!
Scuba Diving with Glasses
For fun on a dive, we have brought down a pair of sunglasses to wear underwater when removing and replacing our mask. It makes for a great and fun photo memory. But is only recommended for divers who are very comfortable with having their mask off underwater.
Can I Wear Glasses while Scuba Diving?
Unfortunately, no. The reason why you cannot wear go scuba diving with glasses is that your glasses will sit on your nose and hook onto your ears. For this reason, a diving mask will not be able to fit onto your face or seal properly. This will then lead to water leaking into your mask.
Luckily, there are many options for glasses wearers when going for a scuba dive!
Scuba Diving with Contact Lenses
If you are comfortable with wearing contact lenses on-land, then this is a great option for scuba diving. It allows you to try and wear different sized scuba diving masks, which is important when renting scuba equipment.
Scuba diving with contact lenses is highly recommended, but there are some minimal risks. One possibility is that the contact lens can slide out of your eye. This can happen when you jump into the water, if a wave hits your face, or when you are clearing your mask. For this reason, when water enters your mask it is recommended to close your eyes.
Check Out: Tips for Scuba Diving with Soft Contact Lenses
Prescription Diving Masks
A popular option to scuba diving with glasses is by investing in your personal prescription diving mask. You can choose your own scuba diving mask based on fit, style, and color. You can then replace the glass with specially made prescription lenses that will slot into the mask frame.
This is a great option for glasses-wearers. However, it can be costly due to both purchasing a mask and getting the prescription glass specially cut for the mask. This option is usually only possible for twin-lenses frames, rather than a single glass frame.
Divers who have a stable prescription that is not frequently changing in power will find this a great option for scuba diving.
Stick-on Corrective Stickers
Corrective stickers are a very modern option for scuba diving glasses-wearers. These stickers are removable glass stickers that can be stuck on any scuba diving mask. It differs from prescription lenses as it can be replaced frequently and as needed.
This option is especially popular with people needing a bifocal scuba mask. Bifocal lenses can provide farsighted and nearsighted vision correction. It is very popular with older divers who may have trouble reading their dive computers up-close.
While popular, corrective lens stickers do have a tendency to lose their stickiness. This may cause it to fall off after a certain amount of dives. It should last a liveaboard, but may need to be replaced every few years.
Magnified Vision Underwater
In the PADI Open Water course, we learn that things appear 33% bigger and 25% closer than they actually are. This means objects will appear magnified and easier to see when you are underwater wearing a scuba diving mask.
Some divers have found that their underwater vision is similar to wearing glasses on-land due to the magnification! This is a great and unexpected advantage for some divers who normally find reading their gauges difficult due to the small details. So who knows, you might just find that your glasses are unnecessary underwater!
