SCUBA with KC possible?

[gobinetp]

Greetings,

I hope you'll accept Frenchies on this forum! I have had a keratoconus for 10 years now (left eye). It is stabilized and hasn’t so far caused me any major trouble aside from the fact that I constantly switch between glasses and contacts for sports. I am an avid scuba diver and have continued diving with the keratoconus for many years. I know that the French diving federation now considers a keratoconus to be a permanent contra-indication to diving, no questions asked. However when I browse through various UK or US internet sites, I find more flexible approaches. Some sites even declare that keratoconus is not affected by pressure and depth changes. This would imply that I can go on diving as long as the keratoconus remains stabilized. Has anyone had similar experience ? Can you give me the latest update on this issue?

Many thanks for any advice you can give me.

Pierre GOBINET
Dunkerque, France

[Andrew MacLean]

Of course we welcome French people to the forum. Indeed, as a Scot, I alwasy welcome Scotland's former partners in the Auld Alliance!

There is at least one member of this forum who earnes his living diving, and while I have never dived under water I did at one time enjoy diving from an aircraft.

Let your ophthalmologist know what you plan to do. If there are any issues with your keratoconus, I am sure that the spcialist will let you know. Then have a wonderful time swimming through what Jacques Cousteau used to call "the murky deep" (la mer sombre)

[Arun]

Oops

I wore a scleral lens in my left eye while scuba diving in Thailand. I didn't have any problems and the instructors were completely okay with it. Just remember to close your eyes when removing your mask under water. 3 months on the only ill effect is that I want to do it again. (there has not been a change to my cone). But it is a good idea to get your specialist's opinion.

[James Colclough]

On a similar note.

Can anyone suggest something for swimming in general. Type of goggles etc.

I now piggy back daily soft and rgp on top.

Have tried swimming in the past with the l rgp lenses in but it hurt like. Now have a daughter who wants to go swimming. Any ideas please

[Arun]

I personally have not tried normal swimming goggles with a lens in as they leak too much. The googles for scuba diving worked for me. But this may be the complete opposite for you. You could try a pair for yourself possibly in the tub so if your lenses comes out you can possibly hunt for it.

[Matthew_]

Bienvenue! I earn a living as a diver and have KC. I work for the Royal Navy as a mine clearance diver (plonger deminier). I have recently gone through a review of my fitness to dive with the various medical specialists we employ. No reason was found to stop me diving with KC and indeed I am obtaining a concession to dive with hard lenses. There is a long thread about 2 or 3 pages back about diving, masks and so on. It is worth taking a look.

[GarethB]

The This link

The mask works really well, when diving to over 3 meters some water does get in the side if you are not clean shaven. Not enough to get to my eyes. If you have a small pool of water in the bottom (something Matthew suggested) they stay fog free as the pool watre clears any fog as soon as your head goes forward and you dive down.

Been swimming several times with no problems while wearing my lenses. I do not dive in from the side, just as I swim a long head down, a**e in the air and down I go.

Goggles came a few days after I orderd them.