Perscription Mask Lenses - Advice and Opinion Please!

Tom Nic · Post by **Tom Nic** » Fri May 11, 2007 10:32 am

OK, it's time once again to draw on the wealth of wisdom and experience that is NWDiveclub.

I am pretty nearsighted and use bifocals. When I got certified I purchased a mask with "stock" lens corrections for each side of my mask.... basically holding up the different number mask lenses that the shop had until I could see. (each of my eyes is very different)

That has worked for the most part, though I know that my detail and "up close" view has suffered because of not having a bifocal. My computer purchase (a ProPlus2 with huge numbers) was directly related to my eyesight, and while I love my computer, there have still been times when I have had to squint and use my light to see my computer.

It's time for a perscription mask!

I purchased a Mares XVision at the Dive Fair last Summer. I plan to get perscription lenses for it... I will take it with me the next time I dive, switch it out at depth, check it for fit, feel, leaks, etc. before I drop the right around 3 scuba units that it will take to get the custom lenses.

So... All you who use perscription masks, especially bi-focal...

What works for you?

What would you do different with your next purchase?

Who did you use for the lenses? Is there one place that all the local dive shops send their orders to? Multiple choices?

What about positioning of the bi-focal?

Advice, advice, and opinions please!!!

GillyWeed · Post by **GillyWeed** » Fri May 11, 2007 11:30 am

Hey Tom,

I don't know about presription lenses but I do know a great eye doctor.. My SO used to work for Vision Express in Federal Way. They have their own lab there, but I am almost 100% sure that they would have to send out to a specialist to do prescription mask lenses. No matter who you go to they probably all go to the same lab somewheres in WA state.. I actually have an appointment tomorrow with them, and I will do some research for you. I am pretty good friends with a few members of the staff still and like I said the DR is really good.

I will post again here when I have better info for you. I should get the skinny on the whole process.. Now, weather they are going to work for you or not, I'll have to leave that up to someone else here who has the prescription lenses.. As mine is so slight that I don't need it.. yet...

Cheers,

Holly

Zen Diver · Post by **Zen Diver** » Fri May 11, 2007 11:40 am

Hi Tom

I used Seavision, based out of Florida. I'd had the good fortune to try on John Rawling's mask to make sure it fit (it did), then took a chance and sent my Rx (bifocal and astigmatism) away to them. I was amazed at the speed, quality and difference it made. They build in the water correction factor so underwater I can see my gauges/computer more easily than I've ever done before. The lens is custom ground, not glued or bonded on, so it's a more natural fit. They will do most any mask, but I opted for just buying their mask (price works out about the same). And, they include a mask box and sweet smelling lens cleaner (which smells suspiciously like baby shampoo...) too. Best of all, the turnaround time was only two weeks from order (by phone) to delivery. I was impressed.

Can't say enough good things about Seavision. I've got two masks by them and will stick with 'em.

-Valerie

Nwbrewer · Post by **Nwbrewer** » Fri May 11, 2007 11:46 am

Tom,

Have you considered diving with contacts?

I use 1 day disposables when I dive, so if I lose one, no big deal. I would think that diving with contacts and the "stick in" type bifocal lenses in a standard mask would be the easiest solution. I chose diving with contacts over a prescription lense as that was I can still see when I pull the mask off. (I'm pretty blind without some sort of correction, contacts or glasses) And if for some reason I forget my mask I can always borrow one.

I know some people, my father included use two different prescriptions for their contacts, one for near, one for far. Aparently after a while of doing that your brain will correct and use the correct eye for the correct task, though I'm not sure I could do that! ](*,)

Good luck with finding a solution. Being able to see the fish is important!

Jake

Dmitchell · Post by **Dmitchell** » Fri May 11, 2007 12:06 pm

Tom,

We have a company we send all our customer's masks too. They've been phenominal to deal with and turnaround is really fast. We fax the prescription and the mask info to them and the lenses are ready when the mask arrives. The bond them to the mask so they can do anything you need even tri-focals. The nice thing is that they do not endup looking really silly like some of the older ones I've seen. We send about 1-2 a month and haven't had a single complaint yet. PM Me if you want more info.

Dave

John Rawlings · Post by **John Rawlings** » Fri May 11, 2007 12:09 pm

Zen Diver 2 wrote:Hi Tom

I used Seavision, based out of Florida. I'd had the good fortune to try on John Rawling's mask to make sure it fit (it did), then took a chance and sent my Rx (bifocal and astigmatism) away to them. I was amazed at the speed, quality and difference it made. They build in the water correction factor so underwater I can see my gauges/computer more easily than I've ever done before. The lens is custom ground, not glued or bonded on, so it's a more natural fit. They will do most any mask, but I opted for just buying their mask (price works out about the same). And, they include a mask box and sweet smelling lens cleaner (which smells suspiciously like baby shampoo...) too. Best of all, the turnaround time was only two weeks from order (by phone) to delivery. I was impressed.

Can't say enough good things about Seavision. I've got two masks by them and will stick with 'em.

-Valerie

Here's another vote for Seavision! I have two of their masks, my buddy Sparky has one, and so does my publisher, Curt Bowen.

If you'd like to examine one of mine, let me know the next time we dive together.

Here's a link:

http://www.seavisionusa.com/index.html

- John

Tom Nic · Post by **Tom Nic** » Fri May 11, 2007 12:13 pm

Good stuff so far! Thanks!!

Keep 'em coming!

Tom Nic · Post by **Tom Nic** » Fri May 11, 2007 12:15 pm

Dmitchell wrote:Tom,

We have a company we send all our customer's masks too. They've been phenominal to deal with and turnaround is really fast. We fax the prescription and the mask info to them and the lenses are ready when the mask arrives. The bond them to the mask so they can do anything you need even tri-focals. The nice thing is that they do not endup looking really silly like some of the older ones I've seen. We send about 1-2 a month and haven't had a single complaint yet. PM Me if you want more info.

Dave

Can you post the name, or is it something that has to be done through a dive shop? If you don't want to post it publicly please PM me the info. Thanks! Otherwise, I know the info will benefit someone else as well!

-Tom

Tom Nic · Post by **Tom Nic** » Fri May 11, 2007 12:17 pm

GillyWeed wrote:Hey Tom,
I actually have an appointment tomorrow with them, and I will do some research for you.

I will post again here when I have better info for you.

Holly

Thanks Holly!

Tom Nic · Post by **Tom Nic** » Fri May 11, 2007 12:18 pm

Nwbrewer wrote:Tom,
Have you considered diving with contacts?
Jake

Mentally, the idea of something in my eye creeps me out...

I don't think I could do contacts because of that...

Nwbrewer · Post by **Nwbrewer** » Fri May 11, 2007 12:35 pm

No doubt!

I didn't think I would be able to do it at first either, but it not as bad as I expected it was going to be. I'm still not one of those people who can pop them in and out without a mirror, but it doesn't creepy me out anymore, and I've found the convenience for water sports to be WELL worth my initial discomfort with the idea. (not having to invest in expensive prescription sunglasses anymore has been nice too.)

Next time you go to the eye doctor you could ask about soft disposables. You should be able to get them to give you a trial pair, it costs a few bucks for the fitting, but you don't have to invest a bunch in them if you find out they don't work for you, but I'll bet you find it's nothing as bad as you imagine it to be.

Jake

John Rawlings · Post by **John Rawlings** » Fri May 11, 2007 12:35 pm

Just in case you want to stay local.....

One of the other primary masks that I use is the exact same basic mask as my Seavision, but I had the bifocal lenses made and glued into the inside of the eye plates by an optometry/eyeglass shop in Woodinville. It, too, is a fine product and the turn-around time was fairly quick.

It sounds like a similar procedure to what Dave is taking about above.

The name of the store is "Expressions in Eyewear", and their phone number is 425-487-2744.

You must provide them with the mask. There must be two seperate lenses for them to work with. If I recall correctly the cost for a regular prescription was $140.00 and for bi-focals/astigmatism it was $160.00 - $175.00 or something like that.

- John

Sounder · Post by **Sounder** » Fri May 11, 2007 1:44 pm

You realize that if you get this trick new mask, I'll have to stop telling you all the tall-tales of the "really cool ____ that you totally missed!" BTW, you DIDN'T see the 5 lumpsuckers hide with the 3 grunt sculpins on the last dive while the pacific electric ray swam by?!

LCF · Post by **LCF** » Fri May 11, 2007 9:44 pm

John, if that's the shop across the street from Bubbles, they actually send the masks away to Michigan to get the lenses put in.

My husband and I, between the two of us, have four masks with bifocals in them. What I found was that, the first time I had a mask done (through the place in Woodinville), the lenses occupied too much of the total space in the mask. Therefore, I could read my gauges just dandy, but all the sea life I went down to look at was blurred, unless I tucked my chin to my chest to look through the very top of the mask.

When I had the "backup" mask done, before we did our trip to Indonesia, I had them cut the size of the bifocal insert by about a third, and this has been completely satisfactory.

My advice would be, before you send a mask off to get the bifocals put in it, make ABSOLUTELY sure you love the mask. I have two of the same model, which is the best mask I've found so far that meets the "two separate lenses" criterion for putting in the bifocals, but both masks have a slow leak, and I really dislike that. But now that I have over $200 into each mask, I'm really reluctant to explore any possibly better options.

Pescadero · Post by **Pescadero** » Sat May 12, 2007 11:08 pm

Tom:

I sent you an E-Mail explaing my experience. And, pointing you in the direction that I went. It has been nothing but positive and I highly recomment this guy.

Let me know if you would like more info.

Skip

ArcticDiver · Post by **ArcticDiver** » Sun May 13, 2007 3:58 pm

What kind of money are you talking about for the SeaVision thing? Turnaround time?

John Rawlings · Post by **John Rawlings** » Sun May 13, 2007 4:28 pm

ArcticDiver wrote:What kind of money are you talking about for the SeaVision thing? Turnaround time?

Go to this page on the website:

http://www.seavisionusa.com/scuba_order1.asp

Select the mask type, color, lens type, and prescription type. It will then show you your cost.

It has been a while, but as I recall I received mine in less than 2 weeks from when I ordered it. That was with regular shipping, too. I'm sure that they have express shipping for those that need it.

- John

Sasquatch · Post by **Sasquatch** » Sun May 13, 2007 9:09 pm

I'm going to check out Seavision right after I post here but for now I want to echo the opinion of Jake and the contact lens/mask correction scenario.

This is what I dive and I find it cost effective and a good all around solution. I hear what you're saying about contacts and the "creep out" factor but todays soft contacts are nearly closer to a liquid than a solid and don't fall out very easily. Your doc will put a pair in for you. One blink and you won't know they're there. Plus there is the advantage of being able to remove the mask and still have great vision.

I'm ready (I think) to have the corrective surgery to fix my far vision problem but because of my age (grrrrrrrrrrrrr!) I'll still need some form of close vision correction.

Anyway, my 2 psi worth.

Dave

GillyWeed · Post by **GillyWeed** » Mon May 14, 2007 7:58 am

Hey Tom,

As promissed I harrassed my eye doc for solutions for diving masks. They have a product that is basically a pair of glasses that are attached to the inside of the mask. They admitted that it was a bad product because the nose of the mask pushes the glasses up and you line of vision would then be at the bottom of the glasses. That was the only product that they carried. However, They knew of a product where the perscription was placed directly on the mask lense with a perscription film. They said this was far superior and gave the best field of vision. They said that it was available in bifocals, trifocals, or basically any thing you needed. Sounds like the seavision concept. Unfortunately for me, my eye doc didn't carry it.. I don't have a bad perscription though so I am going to try contacts..

I hope this helps..

Cheers,

Holly

John Rawlings · Post by **John Rawlings** » Mon May 14, 2007 8:03 am

GillyWeed wrote: They knew of a product where the perscription was placed directly on the mask lense with a perscription film. They said this was far superior and gave the best field of vision. They said that it was available in bifocals, trifocals, or basically any thing you needed. Sounds like the seavision concept.

Looks like I need to clear something up a bit. What Holly is describing here isn't the "Seavision concept". With the Seavision masks your individual prescription is literally ground into the lens.

- John

Tom Nic · Post by **Tom Nic** » Mon May 14, 2007 8:06 am

Yes, this seems a key difference in what I'm hearing...

It seems that one approach is to affix an additional lens to your mask with the perscription.

The other approach is to grind a custom lens with your perscription.

I wonder what the advantages / disadvantages are to each approach?

Thanks for everyone's responses... this is a great discussion, and NWDiveclub is a great resource...

ArcticDiver · Post by **ArcticDiver** » Mon May 14, 2007 10:54 am

Thanks for the SeaVision link.

My need will be bifocal so a prescription mask seems to be the only satisfactory product.

Pescadero · Post by **Pescadero** » Mon May 14, 2007 10:56 am

Tom:

The approach I shared with you cost $89.00 and is guaranteed for the life of the mask, or until your prescription changes to the extent you need them replaced.

I compared this to the cost of the ground lenses, and chose this route. Perfect vision and have been 100% happy.

Skip

Zen Diver · Post by **Zen Diver** » Mon May 14, 2007 11:41 am

Tom Nic wrote:I wonder what the advantages / disadvantages are to each approach?

My first Rx masks had the Rx lens bonded/glued onto the mask. It worked, but definitely got gunked up around the Rx edges over time. When I went to a custom ground mask lens that was my prescription, I found the difference substantial. Vision improved as it was the correct distance from my eyes, and the mask itself stayed way cleaner (less edges for goobers to collect). And, the Seavision company builds in a water correction factor, so for the first time I could see my gauges really really clearly (in fact, I hadn't realized how poorly I'd seen them before until I could SEE them, if you know what I mean).

-Valerie

Tom Nic · Post by **Tom Nic** » Mon May 14, 2007 3:02 pm

http://www.seavisionusa.com/index.html

Anybody else having problems with the website? I get this link OK, but most of the other pages don't seem to be working.