If you wear 'em which do you prefer, glasses or contacts?

[T. Erdelyi]

I just started wearing contacts again after 2 years, I've worn glasses for the last 35 years and contacts on and off for 10.

I like waking up in the morning and being able to see the alarm clock without glasses, being able to buy sunglasses without spending $200-$300.

Then again I was heating up a glass container tring to get all the candle wax out and the jar shattered /exploded and if it wasn't for the glasses I would have been picking glass out of my eye and most likely had blinded myself.

I was told laser surgery was a good option but I'm near sighted and don't want to give up the near/clear vision I have now.

For those of you who are vision acuity deficient, what do you normally wear?

 

[madcap_magician]

I like my glasses. I've had the same pair for four years now. Broken them six times, sat on them twice, lost them three times, but for a $40 pair of glasses, they've done pretty well... even if I do have to bend them back into shape every morning.

 

[Ron Andersen]

I wear glasses and have all my life (having started during middle school). There are several things on which I just don't compromise: my teeth, my feet, and my vision come to mind.

Though contacts are very attractive (I wore then for years when I was around 16-25...I'm now in my 40s), I've had severe migraines for most of my life and contacts have been a "trigger." So they're out.

Since I have to wear glasses any minute I'm awake (since I have very bad vision and require vision correction to see a dang thing), I don't compromise getting glasses I really like (Nautica). Yes, it costs more, but I feel a lot better about wearing them.

Also, because of my migraines, glare of ANY KIND (sunlight, of course, but even slight glare on an overcast day), I require sunglasses...thus prescription sunglasses. Again...no compromise. Mine are Costa Del Mars and they make their lenses, too. I've had my lenses specially made to maximize the reduction of glare.

But, correcting my vision through surgery seems very attractive. My optical/medical insurance covers some of it (a percentage of the procedure and all of the pre and post operative appointments), so it is just coming down to looking into the procedure a little more closely, seeing my optician, and getting it done. Maybe sometime this coming year.

 

[T. Erdelyi]

I wear glasses and have all my life (having started during middle school). ............................................................................................Since I have to wear glasses any minute I'm awake (since I have very bad vision and require vision correction to see a dang thing).......

I'm in a similar situation, it just drives me crazy when a pair of glasses cost over $500.

For the price of a few pair of glasses and I can pay for the surgery, still I wouldn't want to sacrifice my close up vision with the surgery just so i can see a movie or TV without glasses.

Also like I mentioned before, my glasses have saved my eyes more than once, another time I was working as a plumber installing new copper water suppies when the guy soldering the pipe above me dropped a big blob of molten solder that hit my glasses and splattered my face, burned like hell, left little burn marks in the shapes of drops for about a month.

Still the glasses saved my eyesight, without 'em I'd be blind now and typin' in braille.

 

[silenthunterstudios]

I've got glaucoma, and I'm too much of a sissy to put drops in my eyes. I wear glasses. WM specials that Uncle Sam coughs up 200 bucks for, and I cover the rest.

 

[Sryth]

I wore glasses/contacts one or the other from the time I was 12 until I was about 25-26 years old. Then, on a glorious day a few years ago I got corrective surgery. I was near-sighted myself. Anything was blurry past about 5 feet away, and book-type print was only readable if it was in arms reach or closer. The surgery took all of 5 minutes or less, prep time took longer. I had a friend give me a ride home that day and took a nap, woke up 6 hours later feeling great and seeing better than I ever had in my life. Within a week my vision had settled to its current quality, 20/10 (better than 20/20 slightly) I think to this day that surgery was the best investment I've ever made.

 

[Mongo]

Sryth... I see you live at/on an airforce base. I vaguely remember hearing somewhere that pilots cannot have this type of surgery and still be able to fly. It may just be a temporary thing while healing, but I cannot remember any specifics. Can you or anyone else confirm or refute this?

 

[Sryth]

Sryth... I see you live at/on an airforce base. I vaguely remember hearing somewhere that pilots cannot have this type of surgery and still be able to fly. It may just be a temporary thing while healing, but I cannot remember any specifics. Can you or anyone else confirm or refute this?

I can only tell you what I've heard, I'm not a pilot. Pilots (at least air force pilots) must have 20/20 vision to begin training, and I don't think they accept candidates with corrective surgery. However, I believe (This is hearsay but I've heard it enough in the right circles) that a pilot with vision that started fine and later deteriorated can use the PRK version of corrective surgery for "repairs" and get a waiver to remain on flight duty.

EDIT: This does not include fighter pilots, flight medical doesn't trust repaired tissue to deal with the extreme g-forces...even though no accidents have happened, I'm guessing they want to do more research before approval.

 

[Nimick]

I can't count the number of times my glasses have saved my vision. Contacts look cool, but I'm probably too lazy to use them.

 

[Sid Post]

Then again I was heating up a glass container tring to get all the candle wax out and the jar shattered /exploded and if it wasn't for the glasses I would have been picking glass out of my eye and most likely had blinded myself.

I have a similar story of glasses saving my eye sight. In my case, it involved a bolt in the end of a piece of square tubing that drove the glass lens into my eye socket. The glass lens kept the rusty bolt out of my eye and saved my eye sight (I essentially have eye sight out of one eye only and the bolt hit my good eye).

The glasses I am wearing while I type this are OSHA approved and rated safety glasses. The eye glass shop thought I was crazy. They wanted to put me in some small plastic lenses and frames to save weight. I flatly refused and insisted on these lenses. In fact, I specified minimum glass thickness and heat tempering that was in excess of OSHA standards. They tried to fool me with chemical tempering. I sent them back and had them grind new lenses and heat temper them. It turns out, they had to send away for heat tempering and didn't think I would notice.

 

[MelancholyMutt]

I got intralase about 6 months back and it's the best thing I've done in my life... it improved every aspect of my life especially since no one adheres to the rule of not hitting anyone with glasses anymore.

 

[Ron Andersen]

I do have really good optical insurance. Every time I get glasses and they look up my plan, their eyes get BIG and say, you're covered for everything!...but only $85 for frames. So I'm usually into my primary glasses for $150-300 (depending on how extravagant I go on frames), but my sunglasses are where I get hosed since I pay for everything. Lenses are every year and frames are every other year.

Then, every time I get sunglasses, I'm in denial on the price (no insurance coverage...but they give me a 25% discount because I get my regular glasses at the same time). In "rough" numbers for the shades, I'm into the frames for about $300-500, I need the highest index lenses with multiple coatings for tint, scratch resistance, and Polaroid (I'm not sure exactly what they do, but for my migraines and the glare issue, I think they put the Polaroid coating on both the inside and outside and then something else for glare), so they go for something like $400+. So....$700-900!

But...that's the cost of bad eyes. I'm up for new everything in February.

Regarding surgery, I really don't have a grasp of the cost. I wouldn't want to go "budget," because I pamper my eyes (like my teeth and feet). If I were to ballpark guess, I'd say $2000 (for both eyes) for the procedure from a very good doctor. With my insurance, it would be about double my next glasses bill.

So...if the surgery would be of overall help to me (without being a hindrance), it would be a good investment at this time. I have heard mostly wonderful/outstanding things...with a few dissenters.

I have a lot to ponder.

 

[GG_Blaisdell]

I wear contacts everyday. I just can't stand having to wipe my eyeglasses to see. If my Ray-Ban's get dirty, I can drop them down on the neck-band and clean them when I get a chance, but with eyeglasses I'd have to stop what ever it is I am doing. Plus, looking though the Total Station would be more difficult for me if I was wearing prescription eyeglasses.

 

[underaged!]

Contacts for me, I used to skate and I always had problems with them slipping especially when sweaty. The only thing I don't like is that my eyes dry out late at night.

 

[Denix]

I had Lasik with wavefront surgery done last year (it'll be 1 year in 2 weeks).
I had it done for my 40th anniversary. I'd been wearing glasses since I was 11.

My eyesight is even better than with glasses, but a slight bit of astigmatism remains. That means that objects are sometimes slighty blurry at extreme ranges. I can still make out roadsigns from further than anyone else, but they're still blurry. The astigmatism can be corrected, but the doctor said that a small amount of astigmatism helps for close-up vison. My vision from close-up is better than before the surgery.

Overall, a good move.

Guy

 

[Point44]

I still wear glasses although i'm thinking of getting Lasik with the Wavefront thingy done. It's just been quite costly replacing glasses. I usually have to use titanium framed ones 'cos i have one oily and non-supportive nose and it just slips too much if i get something weightier than titanium. Also get the thinnest lenses available and this costs a lot. Usually i end up spending the equivalent of US$300-500. ANd usually every 2 years or so.

But i'm quite surprised that glasses in the US are pricier. Currently i'm wearing a Nikon titanium frame with a thin lens (can't remember the index). Cost me like $400 after discount i think.

Now i've got a friend who's an optician so i can get great discounts. I actually asked him and they say that sometimes opticians have mark ups of around %600. He however sometimes sells at cost to friends.

 

[Geode]

Contact lenses are great because they provide clear peripheral vision that glasses do not.

 

[APS]

Wore glasses since I was 7 and tried contacts for 5 years or so recently. In the office, staring at a PC all day, my eyes just dried out terribly and would also if I left the contacts in over night. It was nice having good peripheral vision as Geode pointed out though. I went back to glasses.
Adam

 

[untamed]

Glasses. I take them off though during practice or sparring. Up close, the guy is manageable but about 12 feet off, things are hazzy and blurry.

 

[SIFU1A]

due to allergies i prefer glasses to contacts, if it wasnt for the fact that some days my eyes water/burn really bad i would prefer the contacts though, the field of view is incredible. glasses dont really bug me like some folks though i have worn since 2nd grade so i guess i am used to them now. have been thinking about laser surgery myself, was talking to my dr., he was telling me all the pro's, i noticed he wore glasses and i asked "why havent ya had the surgery if it is so great" and he never really answered me just hemmed/hawed, it is good though as long as all works out my bud had it done and he loves it.

as far as glasses being $500 i was paying that too, i needed some new sunglasses, $500 at TSO, i decided to try walmart, they had a good selection of frames, etc, they told me they would be $88, thats eighty eight dollars vs $500, WTF, the glasses cant be any good i thought, F&F must suck, i almost blew it off, went ahead and ordered though what the heck, got them, they work just fine, the F&F is fine, i cant imagine how TSO would be ANY better, really. shocked the heck outta me let me tell ya, the day of me buying $500 glasses is over i must say. so ya might give walmart a try.

edited to add the walmart glasses had the thin lenses, UV protection, every single thing the TSO ones did except the high cost. cool looking frames also, they had several name brands in stock.