Can you scuba dive if you wear glasses?

Your options

• Contact lenses under a regular mask.
• A prescription dive mask, made with your prescription specifically for scuba diving.
• Prescription lens inserts. There are devices that hold your prescription and fit on the inside of the mask.
• A gauge reader mask, if you only need help seeing up close.

Diving with contact lenses

It’s absolutely OK to dive with contact lenses. The most important thing: if water ever gets inside your mask, close your eyes right away so you don’t lose your lenses, then go through the mask clearing technique.

During training, you’ll work out a signal with your instructor for the mask flooding skills, so they can let you know when your mask is fully cleared. Over time you learn to feel whether there’s still water on your cheeks or inside the mask.

Prescription dive masks

We don’t keep prescription masks in stock, because there are so many different combinations of prescriptions. What we usually do is point people to labs that make them, like Prescription Dive Masks or See The Sea RX. You send them your prescription and buy the mask directly from them.

Some labs will also put your prescription into a mask you send them. That means you can come in to PR Dive, get fitted for a mask that’s right for your face, and ship it to them. Just keep in mind that shipping is an extra cost. Our guide on how to choose a mask that fits explains what we look for.

Prescription masks can get pricey, a lot like regular glasses, so that’s something to keep in mind.

If you only need readers

If you only need glasses to read up close, like your dive computer or gauges, there’s a mask made exactly for that: a gauge reader mask, with small magnifying lenses at the bottom. We carry them at the shop.

Do you really need it?

Diving without correction isn’t really a mistake. But when you can actually see what’s down there, it makes your diving so much better.