Vision is directly or indirectly related to 80% of all sensory information, it is the single most important consideration in sporting performance.

Not only will corrected vision greatly improve your enjoyment, by improving your performance it will make diving safer for you and your buddies.

An American study has shown that some 75% of American adults use some kind of visual correction and in Singapore between the late 70's and early 2000 there was a rise from 26-83% of 17 year old conscripts requiring glasses.

Though Asians are particularly susceptible to myopia the incidence of visual errors is increasing throughout the world, and this is further complicated by the finding that approximately one third of all people who require glasses also have astigmatism.

Whilst ready made "off the shelf" powered lenses are available for some myopia (short-sightedness) and a very few for hypermetropia (long-sightedness) they cannot correct astigmatism.

Dive Vision can supply any prescription to match your glasses exactly.

Why not contact lenses ?

Mainly because of the risk of infection. A protozoa called Acanthamoeba found in salt and fresh water, can infect soft contact lenses which can result in painful keratitis or even, worst case scenario, the loss of an eye. In salt water there are also the halophilic organisms called Vibrio alginolyticus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus which although rare are particularly devastating.

If the mask floods not only can contact lenses be displaced, but due to the higher osmolarity of sea water over tears, soft lenses can adhere to the eye and require flushing with normal saline to be removed from the eye. How available is that at most dive sites?

Some divers also experience blurring after diving in rigid contact lenses, due to the difficulty of gas exchange causing bubbles behind the lenses during normal decompression. Though this is not harmful and does not usually last long.

A Prescription Dive Mask is the safest way to correct your vision when diving.

This is particularly relevant when it is accepted that scuba diving is one of the fastest growing sports for the over 50's. Even if you have no need for distance spectacles, after 50 when the eyes become presbyopic (unable to focus on near objects) you need a reading correction to enable you to see your gauges and wrist computer. A prescription dive mask can be bonded with a reading only segment, or a bifocal, if a reading and distance correction is required and without the major problem of fogging associated with a clip-in frame.

People frequently express concerns as to what prescription glazed, bifocal masks actually look like... worrying that there will be 'joins' across the middle of the lens, where two pieces of glass meet. Whilst this used to be the case, these days, nearly all bifocals are glazed using fused 28mm D-segment lenses. As you can see from the photograph below, of a Mares X-Vision mask, the bifocal segments are barely discernable and almost invisible to the camera.

 

We are also asked whether corrective lenses replace the masks original glass faceplates. The short answer is 'no they don't'. The reason is simple... The largest, flat-fronted lens blanks available for us to work with are 65mm in diameter, so there simply isn't enough glass to cut to the shape of the mask's lens apertures - especially as we are also governed by each customer's optical centres ( PD ).

Moreover, many masks do not have removable lenses. Some mask manufacturers do supply replacement lenses with correction, but these come in a limited range of prescriptions, with no correction for astigmatism and in half dioptre increments only.

All our prescription lenses are permanently, UV bonded to the inside surface of the mask's original, plain glass faceplates. This is the only way precise prescription glazing can be achieved.

The Regulations

Unfortunately, we are unable to supply masks or goggles if you are partially-sighted, or registered blind and we cannot supply to anyone under 16 years of age. DiveVision is a professional optical service and we are not here just to sell you a dive mask or swimming goggles, we are here to optimise your underwater vision and maximise your diving pleasure. To fully correct your problems with vision, we need to be absolutely certain that the prescription details you provide are completely accurate and less than two years old. If you are totally confident that you can decipher your prescription and you are certain that you understand what we require, you can simply provide this information, in the boxes provided, when filling in your order details. *

It is very important that we have your precise prescription details and we strongly recommend that you send us a hard copy of your prescription, by any of the methods shown below. This is to safeguard your interest, as your mask will be custom-glazed and cannot be offered for resale. This will not delay delivery, as we can proceed with the information you give on your order page, but we would like to receive the hard copy of the prescription prior to finalising your order.

Send a copy of your prescription by...

1) Fax to +65-6725 0760

2) Scan and e-mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it   (This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it)

3) Photocopy and post to Sight4Sport limited, Fiveways House, Westwells Road, Rudloe, Corsham, Wiltshire SN13 9RG

Please ensure that your opticians name and address are clearly visible on the prescription.

*Opticians, like doctors, are not known for their handwriting - if you are unable to read your prescription, simply send us a copy by any of the above methods and we will decipher it for you and e-mail the information so that you may proceed with your order.

Reading Your Prescription

We will need the figures for sphere ( Sph ), cylinder ( Cyl ), axis and Add ( You can read more about these on our About lenses and About eyesight pages ) Don't worry if your prescription doesn't have figures for all of these categories – this simply means that you don't need this correction. Your prescription will look something like this:

Simply read off the figures and enter the values in the appropriate boxes when asked during checkout.

Pupilliary Distance

Last, but not least, we will need a very simple measurement, to ensure you get the very best results from your mask or goggles. This is the measurement of the distance between your pupils, ( your PD ) when looking straight ahead. An accurate PD measurement enables us to position the optical centres of the lenses exactly in-line with the centres of your eyes, to ensure maximum visual comfort. You can either use a mirror to take the PD measurement yourself, or get a friend to assist you. The easiest way is to take a piece of firm card and hold it below your eyes and then make a pencil mark directly in line with each pupil and measure the distance between the two marks in millimetres.( mm. ) A typical adult measurement will be between 58 and 70mm.

Simply enter this measurement in the appropriate box during checkout. That's all there is to it.