TEETH shattering moment... Thanks a lot, eyes.

[Seatan]

Well, I had a REALLY depressing moment today. I love kids and am hoping to do parties in the future, but I am sincerely blind. Okay, I shouldn't say that since I've worked with blind kids and I am definitely not truly blind, but I do have VERY bad eyesight. If I am in the shallow end of a normal sized pool, I cannot tell if adult people are at the deep end. They blend into the wall, my eyes are so poor. Today I tried to swim without goggles in a chlorine pool. I have easily swum with my contacts in (yes, I know it's dangerous!) in a saltwater pool before, but in chlorine my contacts washed right out.

I could not see the bottom of the pool, I could not see the sides of the pool, I could not see people IN the pool... not without my contacts. I hit the bottom while swimming... TEETH FIRST! When I was a kid, my teeth were stained horribly by medications so I have caps on my front four teeth--they cost thousands of dollars, so needless to say I was TERRIFIED when I scraped them along the bottom of the pool!

After that, I was too scared to do anything but swim in a straight line, far from the sides and often putting an arm in front of me to check that I hadn't veered off course. Basically, I couldn't do anything. Needless to say, this REALLY depressed me, because I want nothing more than to look like you lovely mers in your gorgeous videos. I DO know how normal people see underwater, because I am able to swim in contacts in a saltwater pool. Without my contacts is WAY worse than what normal people see underwater. It's like SCUBA diving in black water--I couldn't make out anything more than a few inches in front of my face. There was just the giant white of the edges and bottom of the pool with no depth perception at all--I couldn't even tell where the lane markers were! Plus, when I came out of the water, I couldn't tell if other people were in or at the pool or if I was all alone. Definitely NOT a safe way to swim at a birthday party, not when you have kids in the water with you!

I'm sure some mers have eyes as bad as mine and manage it, but I TOTALLY do not feel safe trying any tricks this way, not after the big teeth scrape--what if I had hit my head?! So I felt sorry for myself and headed home, depressed. I would definitely welcome any suggestions about swimming blind, or how you guys with bad eyes feel about swimming in chlorine. I know there are several posts out there about seeing underwater, wearing contacts in water, whether mermaids should wear goggles, etc, and I've read them all in the past (this has been a big worry for me), but is anybody else so blind that they're AFRAID to swim without goggles?

I am NOT a big fan of mermaids in goggles, but on the way home I started thinking about them. Okay, so maybe I need to wear goggles to swim safely in chlorine (or at least to feel SAFE when swimming in chlorine), which sucks if I want to make pretty videos or go pro. But then I started thinking about how I could hide goggles. I am wondering now if I can make something really pretty to cover my goggles (a tropical looking mask about the size of a Ninja Turtle's mask, maybe?), and sort of make it my thing. Or at least my thing when underwater.

I LOVE mermaiding, it is SO much fun, but I just don't feel like I can swim in chlorine without goggles! UGH! Me wants to be the PRETTY mermaid. *pouts* I know this post is kind of meandering, but it really upset me. I knew I had horrible eyesight (I once knocked my glasses off my bedside table and it took me twenty minutes crawling around on the floor to find them!), but I thought since it's already hard to see underwater that it wouldn't be any worse without my contacts. Now I realize that was pretty naive of me, but, siiiigh... I dunno... Any thoughts on what I might do? Will practice get my courage up or do you guys think it really is dangerous to swim this blindly? Can you cover goggles up well enough that they don't look stupid? (Mine are clear but I still hate how they look). I just dunno...

[deepblue]

First, I'm really glad you are okay. Sounds like you came close to an injury.

In this thread here (http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?5479-Non-Mermaid-Aquatic-Being-Performance&highlight=prescription), a bunch of us were talking about how to make a pair of goggles into something more mer-ish. I'd think you could to it with prescription goggles, though the cost would be a quite bit, I bet! Maybe something in that thread could help you?

[Echidna]

I can relate, my eyesight is so bad I'm nearly blind without glasses/contacts.

I'd like to encourage you to wear small and unnoticable goggles when swimming, Malmsten for instance.
First, safety > looks.
You could swim with your arms extended and look mermaidy, but that's still not safe if you can't see imo.

Second, chlorinated pools are very damaging to your eyes.
Yes, I know many mers still swim without goggles, especially when "pro", but I'd say
health > looks, always.

So yea, I'd wear my clear lil' goggles (unless in a private pool without chlorine, or something similar),
and not pay people any heed who say you should rather ruin your health and risk your (and others) safety to look like a real mermaid.

[WillowAnne]

I would LOVE to know the answer to this! I tried to film myself swimming in my monofin... I put the camera in a mason jar, tied it to some bricks, and sunk it to the bottom of the pool... I am SO blind that I couldn't even see the camera once I put it under the water! It's so annoying... I don't want to try to swim in the pool (it's non-chlorine, ecosmart system using copper plates) with my contacts and risk having them fall out... but on the other hand I want to be able to see, too. I agree though, because I would NEVER want to do gigs because I wouldn't be able to tell the kids from the adults without my contacts!

[Jessica]

I'm very blind without my contacts. This has been a big worry of mine as well. Have you considered just wearing your contacts but closing your eyes underwater? I just peek a teeny bit if I need to see where I'm going....that way the contacts don't fall out.

Or.....
I've considered bringing a bunch of cheap $1 kids goggles if I did a party and telling the kids how important it is to protect your vision from chlorine. Chlorine is bad for a mermaid's eyes too! You could try making it educational....I think parents would actually appreciate it.

[Winged Mermaid]

I'm glad you're alright! Wow, that's such a bummer :( I'm really sorry.

I think the mask thing theoretically could look really lovely! If you have a pair of extra/older glasses that you can still see through okay, you may want to try mounting the lenses on some goggles for DIY prescription goggles. There's a tutorial here: http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-your-own-prescription-swimming-goggles/step1

[Blondie]

I totally understand you :\ I have rotten eyes myself. I wen once without my contacts and I slaaaammed into the wall head first so hard. Nothing is scarier when you hit your head underwater and you become disoriented in your tail. I personally have never had issues swimming with contacts in saltwater or in chlorine. But I would advocate for using goggles since they really do protect your eyes and overall health.

[Kayyi]

I have terrible eye sight as well, but I swim with my contacts anyways. I typically use contact solution before I go swimming, and sometimes throughout. As well, If you are worried about them falling out, sit underwater and open your eyes, then resurface and let the contacts adjust. Do NOT blink lots when you resurface. When I'm done, I rinse my eyes with the solution again, and cleanse my contacts if I'm swimming in chlorinated water. Other than that, myself and my mermaid friend have been swimming with contacts for 4+ years without any problems.

[Mermaid Jaffa]

Glad to know too, that you are ok!
My eyesight is bad too. I've been told by my previous optometrist that I'm a borderline case for being legally blind!

I wear a snorkel swim goggles with removable prescription inserts (lenses).
http://www.sportviz.com/inc/sdetail/aquaviz_bts_core/133

I have cooked up a story should I be asked by a teeny tiny toddler... I'll say, "Where I come from, the water is very dark and cold. Sometimes I like to swim to beaches to have a look at the humans, but the light in shallow waters hurts my eyes. So I have to wear a special mask to protect them."

There are other types of goggles/mask where the lenses are built into the goggle frame, that might be for you. I bought this brand because you can take out the insert, and just in case my prescription increases, then I can just buy new insert instead of another expensive goggle.

[malinghi]

Without my contacts is WAY worse than what normal people see underwater.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think there are a lot of misconceptions about vision underwater.

First, corrective lenses do very little underwater. You're prescription is much weaker in water because the index of recfraction of the water is close to the index of refraction of your contacts. Hence they don't do very much.
More info: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/geoopt/lenmak.html

Second, I think everyone has equally bad vision underwater. Whether your vision is good or bad out of water, the lens of your eye has the same index of refraction as water and thus does almost nothing when its surrounded in water. That's what I thought, anyway. I may be mistaken.

[Mermaid Jaffa]

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think there are a lot of misconceptions about vision underwater.

First, corrective lenses do very little underwater. You're prescription is much weaker in water because the index of recfraction of the water is close to the index of refraction of your contacts. Hence they don't do very much.
More info: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/geoopt/lenmak.html

Second, I think everyone has equally bad vision underwater. Whether your vision is good or bad out of water, the lens of your eye has the same index of refraction as water and thus does almost nothing when its surrounded in water. That's what I thought, anyway. I may be mistaken.

No. Some people have bad eyesight in and out of the water. I have to wear glasses, they are very high powered and high astigmatism doesn't help either. Have had bad eyesight since I was little and no matter what eye exercises I did, it never decreased in power. It just went up and up until at one point, it looked like I was wearing coke bottle glasses!! Modern technology made it so it don't look like I'm wearing magnifying glasses. I've had tests done where I was told my eyeballs were egg shaped whereas a regular person would have round eyeballs.

[Mer-Crazy]

No. Some people have bad eyesight in and out of the water. I have to wear glasses, they are very high powered and high astigmatism doesn't help either. Have had bad eyesight since I was little and no matter what eye exercises I did, it never decreased in power. It just went up and up until at one point, it looked like I was wearing coke bottle glasses!! Modern technology made it so it don't look like I'm wearing magnifying glasses. I've had tests done where I was told my eyeballs were egg shaped whereas a regular person would have round eyeballs.
I think what Malinghi was saying was more that everyone sees poorly underwater, regardless of eyesight on land. Which I agree with, I see perfectly out of water but everything is blurry for me under the water, just like everyone else except those people in that place who can contract their pupils at will but they're crazy. I suppose, logically some people could see better or worse than others underwater but most normal people have shitty vision under the water.

[Mermaid Jaffa]

I just have shitty vision all round.:$

[Echidna]

Second, I think everyone has equally bad vision underwater. Whether your vision is good or bad out of water, the lens of your eye has the same index of refraction as water and thus does almost nothing when its surrounded in water. That's what I thought, anyway. I may be mistaken.

Some people see better underwater than above!
If I'm wearing goggles, I see perfectly clear underwater. I'm blind as a mole above though :/

If you're talking about when not wearing goggles or a dive mask though, I think everyone will have at least a slightly blurred vision because of the way our eye works.

[-Annwyn-]

Ouch!!

have you considered wearing a mouth guard ?

[SiaTheMermaid]

I had a similar idea to make prescription goggles into a stylised mask so I could see and protect my eyes. My eyesight isn't too bad, I can see if I take off my glasses but my issue is my lazy eye. I don't want to freak out children with an eye that likes to always stare at my nose! (My eyes are straight while I wear prescription glasses).

A story I thought of to tell children is that mermaids come from salt water, and chlorine is bad for eyes so I have to wear goggles like humans :) Pool safety is something all young kids should know.

[AptaMer]

Just for the record, people with extrme myopia (shortsightedness) actually have a natural correction that enables them to focus better underwater. They have the avantage of being able to see with clearer vision underwater than they have above water if they swim with nothing on their eyes. We're talking a huge prescription (-6 or more).

[Mermaid Jaffa]

Just for the record, people with extrme myopia (shortsightedness) actually have a natural correction that enables them to focus better underwater. They have the avantage of being able to see with clearer vision underwater than they have above water if they swim with nothing on their eyes. We're talking a huge prescription (-6 or more).

Are you sure?? Everything is a blur underwater!

Though mine are more extreme eyes... -9.00 and -10.00

[AniaR]

I can see and I have bashed my face or chin so many times! Twice while filming lol

[AniaR]

I've also hit my head so hard I almost blacked out

[AniaR]

Honestly I am in chlorine so much now I avoid opening my eyes underwater unless I'm filming. I never do tricks in water that isn't over my head.

[-Annwyn-]

I have a blooper on my computer of me clocking my head on the metal railing as I was coming up for air. Bloody thing damn near winded me, and I couldn't cry out because...water.
But yeah, I tend to avoid crazy flippy stunts.

[Yulia]

The first time I tried out my monofin in the ocean I was like "YEAH OMG THIS IS AWESOME"
And then I hit the bottom and got my mouth full of sand.

[Meronica]

I'm nearsighted and see nearly perfectly underwater with non-prescription goggles on than above the water.

If I'm not wearing goggles but want to open my eyes underwater, I usually go in without contacts. It's probably pretty rare for something bad to happen to your eyes, but it would be really gnarly if something DID. :(


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[AniaR]

I think what we're trying to say here is dont be so hard on yourself, you arent alone ;)

[PearlieMae]

I see badly underwater without goggles and fine with them. Never stopped me from bashing face first into the wall/the bottom/the lane marker/the creepy guy who insists on sharing my lane.

I like to pride myself on keeping myself together in risky situations. Guess who nearly panicked and drowned herself during her first underwater shoot with a pro photographer in water she could stand up in?

THIS fish. :doh:

[Mermaid Jaffa]

I see badly underwater without goggles and fine with them. Never stopped me from bashing face first into the wall/the bottom/the lane marker/the creepy guy who insists on sharing my lane.

I like to pride myself on keeping myself together in risky situations. Guess who nearly panicked and drowned herself during her first underwater shoot with a pro photographer in water she could stand up in?

THIS fish. :doh:
*snickers*
:lol:

[jameschadwick]

I have studied this problem for some time. I think you have to understand some concepts related to refraction, lenses, working of the lens, lens makers formula and underwater vision. Here are some very good resources
1. Refraction (https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/49-refraction-of-light)
2. Lens
(https://isaacphysics.org/concepts/cp_lenses)3. Lens Maker's Formula
(https://atomstalk.com/blogs/lens-makers-formula/)4. Underwater vision

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwater_vision)I hope these resources help you. Thanks!!!