Mask Fog: causes and Prevention (According to a scuba instructor)
Trying to enjoy your dive, but your mask keeps fogging up? If you can’t see what you’re doing or where you’re going it’s hard to get the full diving experience and may cause some safety concerns. Read on for the reasons why our masks tend to fog and how we can help to stop that from happening.

Causes
So let’s start with the why our masks tend to want to fog up on us. The simple answer is condensation. This is caused from the temperature difference of our body (face) and the water temperature. This is the same effect that causes our car windows to fog up, until we turn the defogger on.

Prevention
Now that we know where the fog comes from, how do we prevent it from happening? There are a couple things to do, including preparation of new masks and predive treatment, that can help prevent fog from forming in your mask,
Before any treatment, you first want to make sure your mask fits you as good as possible to let in as little water as possible. Just like there are many different face sizes and shapes, there are many different mask sizes and shapes to choose from. The more your mask leaks, the more the water leaking in can wash away the defogging agent (see below) that you are going to use predive. When buying a mask, a store representative at your local dive shop can help ensure a mask is a good fit for you. (FYI, Scuba Jay’s mask of Choice is the Cressi Eyes Evolution, which you can learn more about here)

New masks / pre use preparation
Some new masks come treated with an antifogging coating and you don’t have to do anything for pre-use. For other masks not treated, there may be a film inside the mask left over from the manufacturing process. In that case, you can put a couple of dabs of a slightly abrasive toothpaste on the inside lens and rub around for a few minutes (Important note! Always best to read manufacturer’s instructions for pre-use cleaning before preparing your mask).

Daily use preparations
Just because you did the new mask preparations above, does not mean your mask won’t fog. Before each dive you are going to want to treat your mask with an antifogging agent. Back in the day, divers would spit in their masks to help form an antifogging barrier. While you can still do that in a pinch, there are now other options that work much better at keeping fog from occurring.

There are many antifogging agents now available to help save on the spit. These include Sea Drops, Cressi anti-fog spray and quick spit, which I’m pretty sure is not just bottled spit. These applications generally will be applied while your mask is dry before your dive. Before your dive, drop or spray the solution onto your mask lens, rub it around so you cover the entire lens and then rinse out. If doing multiple dives in a day, you’ll want to apply the antifogging agent before each dive.

For a little DYI, you can also use Johnson’s Baby shampoo, which works rather well as an antifogging agent…and won’t make you tear up either.

Wrapping Things Up
So there you have it. Those masks will always want to fog up. But with the above tips, hopefully you will be able to keep the fog out of your mask so you can see that beautiful underwater environment and have a safe enjoyable dive.
If You’re Looking For other Scuba Diving Tips, Check Out The Below.
“How boring would the world be if everywhere and everyone were the same. Safe travels and good adventures.” Scuba Jay