scuba diving mask

The Importance of a Full Face Scuba Diving Mask

The full face scuba diving mask is a type of diving mask that can completely seal the face of the diver from water and which also includes a mouthpiece as well as a demand valve that is used to give the diver enough breathing gas. The full face scuba diving mask is considered as being much more secure than when one breathes from a mouthpiece, especially in the case where a diver should become unconscious since the mouthpiece is gripped between the diver’s teeth.

Who Uses the Full Face Scuba Diving Mask?

The full face scuba diving mask is used by professional divers because they enable the diver to communicate with those above on the surface as well as providing protection to the face from water that may be polluted. When the diver undertakes recreational diving, the full face scuba diving mask is used for protection to the face from cold water as well as stings such as those that may emanate from jellyfish or coral.

In addition, the full face scuba diving mask also is less uncomfortable than the mouthpiece which requires it to be gripped between the teeth over longer periods of time. The full face scuba diving mask is sometimes called the Jack Browne rig, as it is named for a Desco engineer who was the person who designed an early version of the full face scuba diving mask that also had an integrated air-supply attachment.

The full face scuba diving mask also has straps that firmly fasten it to the head and they also have valves to switch between breathing through the mask and breathing without it. The full face scuba diving mask also does not easily get dislodged from the diver’s face as compared with the mouthpiece. Because of its sealing effect, there is much less risk of water leaking and the diver is also able to communicate without removing his mouthpiece and also facilitates use of communication equipment such as intercom wires or modulated ultrasound to be fixed in the mask and provides greater benefit to divers.

However, there is a hazard with the full face scuba diving mask and that concerns dead space that would result in carbon monoxide retention. In order to counter this danger, one may have a small mouth-and-nose breathing mask inside the full face scuba diving mask and this will greatly reduce the dead space. In addition, to prevent the full face scuba diving mask from becoming misted or fogged and one may thus need to treat the inside of the mask window with a demister.

The Prescription Scuba Diving Mask

Many swimmers and scuba divers who use corrective lenses on land find that swimming underwater or scuba diving is greatly enhanced by wearing a scuba diving mask. Since water is a magnifier which means that things appear somewhat larger than they actually are, most prescriptions result in either magnifying or minifying what the wearer observes.

The use of a scuba diving mask results in actual visual acuity being somewhat more complicated due to the magnification of the water.

What is a Scuba Diving Mask?

A scuba diving mask is designed for scuba dives and they tend to be quite large and square shaped, and they come up high on the face. They also go across the forehead reaching as low as the nose and the rubber that surrounds the areas of the mask in order to help to fit tightly against the face thereby providing a seal that is watertight.

On the other hand, a prescription scuba diving mask works by either having the entire lens area as being a prescription lens, or having the Rx lens to be inserted separately between the mask and the eyes of the wearer. Moreover, the lens in the diving mask is usually made out of glass, acrylic, regular ophthalmic plastic or polycarbonate.

However, it may be noted that all contact lenses are not ideal for use in scuba diving and lenses made of RGPs and the old hard lenses may dig in to the eyes at certain depths due to the increased water pressure. In addition, soft lenses may gather waterborne organisms and thus be contaminated and result in causing disease. It may occur even in pools as well as fresh and saltwater bodies.

Besides picking the scuba diving mask that is most suitable, there is also the need to maintain it properly because it may become damaged because it has not been soaked in fresh water after a dive. Therefore, after every dive, one should thoroughly soak the scuba diving mask in fresh water.

This will prevent salt crystals from drying which would thus cause the metal parts to become weak and would also possibly cause rusting and the straps and fabrics could become rigid as well as split. These crystals combined with sand together act as an abrasive that causes the lens to be scratched as well as dig holes in the equipment.

Therefore, one needs to check the straps by stretching them and seeking out any cracks that may exist and inspect purge valve to see if there are any bits of sand or salt, that exist even after washing. One should repair all damaged parts as well as store the scuba diving mask away from light, heat and fumes and never pile any significant weight on top as well as try to avoid bending fins which should lie flat and not on their tips and also, not let silicone rest against neoprene since that would result in the silicone becoming discolored.