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Diving Mask

Your diving mask is not a critical component of your diving gear. I say that with a bit of a caveat. What I mean is that if you were to somehow lose your diving mask mid-dive, you would not suddenly be in a potentially fatal situation. However you would hardly be comfortable.

If you’ve ever opened your eyes underwater you are familiar with the undulating, alien world that awaits them. This is actually caused by a difference in the way water interacts with light waves. Water refracts, or scatters light much more readily than air does. This causes a distortion in distances, especially in the peripheral vision. A diving mask seeks to compensate for that by placing lenses between your eyes and incoming light. These lenses are intended to undo as much of the distortion as possible. While they won’t make a scuba diving trip seem like a walk in a meadow, they do help it to seem a little less alien.

If you’ve opened your eyes underwater you’re also probably familiar with the uncomfortable sensation that follows an extended period of water-eye contact. The water actually dehydrates your eyes by allowing the natural mucous layer to escape into the surrounding water rather than staying on your eye. There is also ample opportunity for uncomfortable chemicals to enter the eye through the water. At a pool that chemical is usually chlorine. A diving mask seeks to stop that uncomfortable process by placing a bubble of air around your eyes.

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