snorkelling and glasses

[parietal]

For the first time this summer I'm going on holiday where I hope to be able to go snorkelling with the kids. I normally wear glasses (-3.5 prescription) and haven't worn contact lenses in years but could get some. When I did wear lenses, they often felt dry after a couple of hours.

should I

• get some disposable lenses and wear them on the days we go in the sea?
• buy a snorkel with a prescription lens insert which I've seen online?
• something else?

any advice please?

I am a contact lens wearer and my optician always says not to go in water wearing them as dirt and bacteria can get trapped behind the lenses, leading to potentially dangerous eye infections.

I would personally buy a snorkel with a prescription lens in it to be on the safe side.

Fellow glasses-wearer here. I've never been snorkelling, but I do wear protective goggles to strim patches of my lawn, so I can relate somewhat to your dilemma. You wouldn't believe how much crap (sometimes literally) flies in your face while strimming. I don't actually wear my glasses under my goggles because my goggles aren't big enough to fit over the top of my glasses and I find I can still see enough to not bump into anything in my garden.

I would go with snorkels that have prescription lens inserts over the possibility of drying your eyes out from contact lenses. Plus as PP mentioned, there is a very real risk of getting all manner of nasties stuck behind the lenses while in the water.

To get the most out of snorkelling you would need to buy the prescription mask. If you are snorkelling in shallow water or not far above the reef you might be OK without. I have worse sight than yours and I manage with a normal mask but if it was a holiday based around snorkelling I would consider getting one.

We buy DH an off the shelf prescription mask. Same prescription in each eye and no adjustments for astigmatism. It’s not as perfect as a custom mask where they put in your actual eyeglass prescription, but it is a tiny fraction of the price. It works for him.

i just wear disposable contacts. Same for dd. If I feel like anything is wrong at all, I can stop and get rid of them and not worry I’m essentially throwing out large sums of money by not having a proper storage case and cleaning supplies at the ready.

I'm an optometrist. Interestingly the bug that causes a catastrophic eye infection, which we're constantly going on about, is only in fresh water. But there is lots of salt in sea water, which also doesn't agree with contact lenses.

I'd also buy prescription goggles.

Prescription mask.

I'd get some prescription goggles.

Contact lens wearer and scuba diver / swimmer
Wear lenses - dailies . Bin after dive , never had a problem .

I used to wear dailies and bin

I'd take a few day getting used them.

I dive, snorkel and swim in contacts. In fact I dived two one tank dives the day before yesterday on Cozumel in contacts with no issues at all, in the sea and my mask came off. I just take them out the minute I get out of thr dive boat.
Modern lenses are absolutely fine to wear diving, sounds like the optician mentioned up thread is a bit out of date. I use moist dailies.
ive also done several 40m deep dives in contacts. Again no issue.

I wouldn't do it in a borrowed mask though, I have my own which I know is super tightly fitted, doesn't leak and is really well looked after.

I've had an ocular ulcer brought on by previously being rather blasé with lenses on long shifts at work so I am now hyper vigilant about contact lenses but again never had any issues.

Hi both my husband and I wear daily disposable contacts when snorkelling- both our prescriptions have changed recently and we have our own dive quality masks that fit well, I take the lenses out after snorkelling and didn't get water in my eyes. We have done a fair bit of diving and snorkelling- you do see better underwater without your glasses due to the magnification so it's worth seeing if you can manage without as well.

I invested in a prescription mask 30 years ago and have had loads of use from it, haven't updated the prescription but it's good enough still, it's fantastic, definitely worth it if you will go a few times. (Get a case for it, never put it down lenses down, rinse in fresh water before you put it away). Brought me so much pleasure to see clearly under water.

I would buy a cheap prescription mask from amazon, the one I got for my husband was about £25. My prescription is about -2.0 and I manage with a normal mask. The contact lens option is risky, my husband had pseudomonas keratitis from swimming (parent and child lessons so he was only bobbing around with our youngest) with his lenses in. This was 8 years ago. He spent about a week in the eye hospital, had 6 weeks off work and had months and months of follow-up appointments. It healed nicely but he completely lost the vision in that eye. Not worth the risk.

Like a PP I have done a lot of snorkelling and diving in contacts - not disposables, reusable fortnightly. Never been an issue. If the mask fits well you don’t really get water in your eyes, even with a bit of leakage the water stays at the bottom of the mask.

I don’t know how you’d go about getting a prescription mask and whether you’d be able to try it on first? I’d much rather have a well fitting mask and contacts than a badly fitting prescription mask.

I've snorkelled a lot in contacts, my mask fits well so my eyes don't generally get wet, but I change the disposable lenses for new ones and rinse my eyes afterwards anyway to be on the safe side.

No, not out of date at all, completed a clinical masters a couple of years ago and will complete independent prescribers soon.

the principles of osmosis are unlikely to change any time soon!

I wear glasses and have a prescription mask for diving. I'm too squeamish for contact lenses and couldn't see any fish with a normal mask.

I always snorkel in my contacts. Often get water in my face and never had any problems. I always swim in them too.