My glasses are thick- can I even go diving?
For those of us with very strong prescriptions or optical corrections, when we learn to dive there is excitement and then a moment of panic about how we are going to be able to see while underwater with a snorkeling or diving mask. There is good news. See the Sea can make dive masks in any prescription (yes even yours), and we have not turned away a single diver since we started for prescription strength limits (including lenses with over 20 diopters).
I have previously written articles on prescription scuba diving mask considerations for those with strong prescriptions, but in today’s article, I want to focus on those with strong plus prescriptions.
Due to varieties in masks: depths of lens pockets or lens size, certain masks work better for stronger prescriptions than others, specifically when talking about corrective lenses (bifocals or distance lenses) for those with spherical equivalents over +4.00. The wrong mask choice can lead to the lenses contacting the diver’s face and even causing pain. As a reminder, you can order a mask with lenses from us, or you can send us your mask to have lenses installed. Either way, if your prescription is over +4.00, these are the factors to consider in a dive mask:
- Good lens pocket depth. We want the lenses to have some distance from the face to minimize the risk of lenses contacting the divers face.
- Smaller overall lens size. The smaller the lenses, generally the thinner we can produce the prescription lens for your dive mask.
- Twin lens dive masks generally work better for strong plus prescriptions than single lens masks.
Best Dive Masks for strong farsighted lenses
Here are our recommendations for masks that we sell, that work very well for strong plus lenses:
- Scubapro D- Mask (my top choice and the mask I currently dive). Click here for my full review of the mask.
- IST M200 (Aluminum frame mask for small to regular fit faces)
- IST M100 (Aluminum frame mask for average faces to slightly wide)
diving Masks that we don’t sell but are good options
Here are masks that we don’t sell on our website, but make great options for high plus lenses (if you own one of these, you can definitely send them in to us to have high plus lenses installed) :
- Aqua Lung Reveal X2 Mask
- Mares Viper Mask (ultra low volume free diving mask which allows for a small and relatively thinner lens)
- Sherwood Targa Mask
- Cressi Big Eyes Evolution Mask
- Tusa Ceos Mask
Great dive masks (that are bad for thick plus lenses)
Here is a list of popular dive masks, that we can install prescription lenses into, but are NOT good options for strong plus lenses (still great option for other lenses):
- Cressi F1 Frameless Mask
- Aqua Lung Micro Mask
- Scubapro Synergy 2 Mask
- Atomic Aquatics Venom Frameless Mask
- Mares X-Vision Ultra Liquidskin Mask
- Oceanic Shadow Frameless Mask
- Tusa Freedom HD Mask
- Hollis M1 Frameless Mask
- Tusa Paragon S Mask
- Atomic Aquatics Frameless Mask
- Scubapro Solo Mask
- Hollis M3 Mask
- Mares X-Free Mask
The above are all quality dive masks (some of which are even available on our site) which work well for a lot of prescriptions- however they are not good options for those with strong plus lenses.
If you are just snorkeling, our full face snorkel masks also work well with all prescriptions, even very strong ones.
Just a few reminders: Our made to order lenses can correct for strabismus and astigmatism (prism and cylinder). No matter your prescription, we can make a dive mask for you, but mask selection is more important for those with strong plus corrections. Feel free to give us a call or email if you have questions about selecting a mask, or whether your mask will work for your prescriptions.
