Special contacts for better underwater vision?

[Sakutama]

Hi everyone!

This might be a strange question, but it's been on my mind for a while. I know it can to hard to see under water, and I read an interesting article about why that happens.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwater_vision

It got my thinking...is it possible to create special contacts that correct eyes for better under water vision? I'm not very good understanding at this sort of thing, so this could be completely impossible. When I Googled the idea, I just learned that it's possible to dive with contacts as long as they are the soft type.

But if there are fish eyed lenses for cameras, maybe such a thing could be created in contact form? I'm sure a lot of professional mermaids would love to be able to see clearly when they perform in water. ^_^

[LouLouBelle]

That's definitely an interesting read.

I'd imagine the main problem would be getting contacts that would stay in, as well as the infection risk they present. There is a bacteria that can live quite happily in water, even if it's chlorinated, and it's good at attaching to the surface of contact lenses resulting in infection that can cause loss of sight. Otherwise I reckon it would almost definitely be possible.

I'm ridiculously short sighted so apparently that should help... But when I swam without goggles I couldn't see anything at all. I now think it's more to do with the state my retinas are in rather than my near sightedness.

(If anyone knows any better, please correct me if I'm wrong here!!)

Your retina is covered in rods and cones - cones process colour and detail while rods process general form, gray scale type images. Rods are the more dominant cell in low light levels and, I think, probably the dominant cell when looking through water. Most of the rods are located around the outside edges of the retina. I've had a lot of lasering to destroy the outer parts of my retinas (due to retinopathy) so I don't have many rods left, and I have noticed a big difference in my vision at night. I have a feeling that's why I can see underwater - which sucks! One of very few times when being short sighted might have actually been a blessing! Oh well!

I'd be really interested to know if any other short sighted mers find their vision is better underwater as a result?


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[Sakutama]

Thank you so much LouLouBelle!

Looks like bacteria might not be a problem too at some point. :-)

http://www.aoa.org/news/clinical-eye-care/antimicrobial-coatings-and-the-future-for-contact-lenses?sso=y

Also this was really informative about wearing contacts when diving.

https://www.divein.com/articles/diving-with-contact-lenses/

It's an exiting thing to imagine! I'm sure a lot of professional mermaids who perform in aquariums would love to see their audience clearly to interact with them. Or when free diving, to be able to see the wonderful creatures of the sea. They could even make different colors over the iris area so you could have purple eyes or aqua green eyes.

I really hope someone with the knowledge and resources might take up this niche and create such contacts! I would use them!

[PearlieMae]

Hannah Fraser had special underwater contacts made for her shark shoot, $500 an eye! She said every time she turned her head, one would pop out and get lost in the water, so she gave up.

[LouLouBelle]

Yikes! I think I would have cried if I'd spent that much on lenses only to lose them in the water.


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[Sakutama]

Wow!! That's heartbreaking. But I'm so exited someone made this idea happen! I want to ask her SO many questions! I would love to see what they looked like, how they felt, what it was like to see with them on, and so on. I wonder if there is anything that could be done to safely prevent them popping off. But at $500 an eye, it's certainly something I couldn't experiment with.

[Merman Andrew]

Well I found this article that suggests that not only is it possible to have contacts that can give you perfect vision under water, but also that they are not likely to slip out nor give you too much issue with bacteria build up. It even goes so far as to say that there are plenty of people who currently wear contact lenses under water with no issues.

http://www.clspectrum.com/articleviewer.aspx?articleid=100720

[Sakutama]

Leomar that's amazing!! Thank you for sharing! They didn't mention how much they are, but I'll just assume they're way out of budget for me, for now. ^^ But it's SO existing that not only do these contacts already exist, there could be a version that works both in AND out of water! It just seems like a must-have for mermaiding!

[HamptonsMermaid]

I always swim with my contacts on and have had no infections and only loss a contact twice ever. If you're not used to wearing contacts daily then it would probably be important to get used to normal contacts on land and underwater before taking a fancy expensive pair underwater. Fingers crossed that this technology is made available soon! It would be such a dream!

[KateyMermaid]

So fun fact: water is a natural magnifier. I have crap vision (very near sighted. -3.5 and -3.75). When I am above water without corrective lenses, I'm damn near blind. if I am underwater with goggles/mask (without contacts) my natural vision is improved.

I try NOT to swim with my contacts whenever possible. I will bring my glasses to gigs just in case. I sometimes tell the kids that mermaids wear glasses to see above land because we have blurry vision on land the same way that humans have blurry vision underwater. It seems to go over well.


If I have to swim in my contacts, i remove them after the gig and throw them away. I have had eye ulcers as a result of bacteria getting trapped under my contact. It wasnt fun. I dont want to do it again. However, I do not have an issue with my contact falling out. as long as I dont rub my eyes when I surface, they hold up just fine.

My understanding is that humans have bad underwater vision because our eye do not know how to focus through water. We (mostly) have evolved to focus through air (there is debate on whether or not there is an indigious peope who have learned to focus their eyes underwater to correct this).
Now most vision issues have to do with the SHAPE of your eye, not the actual muscles/ability to focus. That being said, I think it would theoretically be possible to create a contact that would overcome this. I'm sure it would be extremely exspensive. In addition, everyones eyes are different. I dont think it would be possible to make a contact that universally corrected underwater vision. It would have to be tailored to each individual, since everyones eyes are different shapes and have different focusing strengths.

I dont know of any professional or recreational mermaids (other than Hannah Fraser) that utilize a contact like this. I know from doing gigs in tanks where I have to interact with an audience, you just kinda get used to your crappy vision and guess where the audience is. Tanks make it easy since people can get close to the glass--it helps lol

that all being said, it would be pretty incredible to be able to see clearly.

[Merman Sean]

Hi everyone!

This might be a strange question, but it's been on my mind for a while. I know it can to hard to see under water, and I read an interesting article about why that happens.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwater_vision

It got my thinking...is it possible to create special contacts that correct eyes for better under water vision? I'm not very good understanding at this sort of thing, so this could be completely impossible. When I Googled the idea, I just learned that it's possible to dive with contacts as long as they are the soft type.

But if there are fish eyed lenses for cameras, maybe such a thing could be created in contact form? I'm sure a lot of professional mermaids would love to be able to see clearly when they perform in water. ^_^
Hi Sakutama well it's not strange at all and I am trying my self to exercises my eyes to see better under water, I am a bit lucky there that my vision underwater is not to bad, after I have seen this BBC clip. Not sure if it works like they say, but it's worth a shot.


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[Sakutama]

Thanks everyone! I really hope this will become more available someday, I'd love to try it!