Mask Squeeze

Barotrauma of the face caused by failing to exhale into the mask on descent, leaving bloodshot eyes and bruising around the eye sockets.

Mask squeeze is barotrauma of the soft tissue inside your dive mask. The mask encloses an air space over the eyes and nose, and as you descend that air compresses while the water pushes the mask against your face. If you do not add air, the relative vacuum sucks on the skin and eyes, bursting small capillaries. The result looks dramatic: bloodshot eyes, red pinpoint spots, and purple bruising around the sockets, though it usually looks worse than it feels.

Prevention takes zero effort: exhale a small puff through your nose into the mask every so often on the way down, ideally at the same rhythm as your ear equalization. This is exactly why scuba masks enclose the nose and swim goggles are banned for diving, there is no way to add air to goggles. Freedivers do the same, budgeting a little of their breath-hold air to the mask.

A mild squeeze needs no treatment beyond time, the redness fades over one to three weeks. Pain, vision changes, or bleeding warrant a medical check. New divers descending fast, feet first, and concentrating hard on their ears are the classic victims, so make the nose puff part of your descent routine from day one. If a squeeze does happen, skip further diving until the eyes look and feel normal again, and check mask fit and strap tension before blaming technique alone.