Do you wear glasses or contacts?

[Vidd]

If there was a similar thread not long ago, I apologise, but the search results only produced one very relevant thread from June 2007.

Anyway, the premise of this thread is quite simple:
Do you wear glasses or contact lenses?
What is your history with them?

I have worn glasses since primary school ("grade school"). Since then, I got very accustomed to them and didn't really mind them besides obvious things like smudges, fingerprints and rain, for example.

A few years ago, I tried contact lenses and to say they changed my life would sound melodramatic but when you require something just to see things at a distance clearly and you change your habits regarding this, then it is quite significant.
Contact lenses, are to me, far better than glasses. In my experience I believe that they offer better vision that glasses of comparable strength, are not rendered nearly useless with rain and do not suffer from smudges.

On the negative side though, putting them in and taking them out can feel like a chore. Having to make a routine of it before going to bed is irritating since I wear fortnightly instead of monthly lenses. Also, sometimes they begin to feel dry and become irritable. The only thing that really bothers me though is the fact that they do not work as well with astigmatism and so sharp things like book text can be somewhat blurred.
My right eye has slight astigmatism so using a computer screen in particular can be irritating but since I switched to OS X over XP this has not been as bad since most text is anti-aliased (although the blurriness has not been as bad as it once was for some reason). I believe this is the case with Vista as well but I have not used it.

Anyway, I'm seriously considering laser eye surgery because neither contacts or glasses are ideal. On top of that, the fact that the "image" that you see is somewhat smaller than without glasses bugs me.

Anyway, this quickly became a wall of text. I'd like to hear about other people's experiences, especially if they have gotten eye surgery.

 

[Blazer]

I noticed that I needed glasses around 10th grade. I was not able to see the board in class, or read anything far away. Even though my vision was bad I went through my whole sophomore year of high school with out glasses. I finally got glasses at the beginning of my junior year. My vision was not that bad so I only needed them while I was in school or driving. I really hated wearing them so I only wore them when necessary. Even though I hated my glasses I hated the idea of putting something in my eye even more so the idea of contacts really did not appeal to me.

After a year of wearing glasses, I started to realize that my vision was getting worse and I needed to wear my glasses more often (like needing them to watch TV). Eventually I got over my fears of putting stuff in my eyes and got contacts earlier this year. It did take me a while to get used to them and they can be annoying, but I will take them over glasses any day.

Overall my eyes are not to bad (I can't remember the numbers off the top of my head) but if they continue to get worse, then I am considering laser eye surgery later down the road (contacts and glasses seem to me as more of a quick fix).

 

[Invective]

ive needed glasses ever since 5th grade, but never wear them regularly, just when i need to see something far away. i use contacts for sports mostly, basketball and volleyball. although i have found that i am used to my mormal vision in both those sports, so i normally dont wear glasses or contacts. its weird cuz people say i have really bad vision, but i can see fine. i think my eyes are somethin like -1.75 in the left, and -2
in the right. that isnt that bad, right? i know ill have to wear once i start driving (i do have my permit, just to lazy to start driving).

 

[Firestorm]

I've needed glasses since about 8th grade and started wearing them a lot more this year. I haven't tried contacts as they sorta creep me out. I don't like sticking things in my eye. I'm pretty protective about them. Like, overly so... more than your average person.

The first time I put on glasses was amazing. I mean, I didn't realize I needed them that badly. I was seeing things I never even knew existed @_@

 

[KoA]

I've had glasses since second grade because my eyes are seriously fucked up. I'm so nearsighted that without them on, I can't make out clear images from even a foot away.

I'm also the only one in my family who's had to wear them. It's so bad that I get headaches if I go for more than a half hour without them on. (Excluding sleep, obviously)

 

[gorm]

when i found out i needed glasses in grade 3 i cried @__@;


i only need them for lectures/movies though
4_4;

 

[Invective]

@KoA
really? i get headaches if i go for over 30 minutes with either my glasses or contacts. it used to get annoying at basketball games since i would have a huge headache in the middle of the game. and then i decided not to wear them during games, which was one of my greatest ideas ever.
also, ive noticed that when i dont wear my glasses, i rely on my other senses more than with my glasses. and even without my glasses, i can still recognize people who are far away (i am farsighted) better than my 20/20f friends. which is kinda weird.

 

[Sunday]

Glases, as I don't need them that much so no glasses suffice for almost every activity I do.

 

[tdub13]

Neither yet, but my right eye is 2000-20 or something like that...

 

[Dude18210]

I actually just recieved my glasses a month ago or so. My eyes were tested to have somewhere between 20/70 and 20/50, so they weren't too bad. I did have to sit in the front of most of my classes in order to see the chalkboard better, and even then I had to squint my eyes in order to see everything thoroughly.

I also do wear contacts, but I usually end up wearing my glasses mostly. I usually never have time to put in the contacts in the morning. I guess I'm still getting used to them and I still need some practice putting them in and stuff. I'll agree though that they can get irritable, but they are far better than glasses if you don't mind touching your eye.

 

[Kira]

I noticed I needed glasses in second grade. I tried contacts once in 6th grade unsuccessfully, but just this year I have tried them again. I now love contacts so much more than glasses. I will never go back to glasses.

 

[Layell]

Currently about everyone in my immediate family wears glasses (all my family and about 80% of my relatives), I did but only for grade 3. I'm guessing that the curse of genetics will soon have my eyes again however.

 

[Doomsday]

Currently using lenses, so, so awesome. Really, I enjoyed the change very much - Not only did I look(pun intended) better, but i could actually SEE when it was raining!

Here's the only thing I dislike; the 8-hour limit. My doctor said I should wear for aprox. 8 hour max on a day, and sometimes like when partying occurs I wear them for much longer. I don't notice any change in my eyes, but I am careful enough about this.

Also putting them on and off sometimes sucks, like how in last week I went to this festival and we had to camp, but the washrooms were dirty as all hell so I did not have the opportunity to use lenses and resorted to glasses 24/7.

Due to the "time limit", I use glasses at home and only put lenses when people visit for a long time or when I'm going out, that's my general rule.

 

[Kingdrom]

I suffer from genetically poor eyes and slight astigmatism in both of my eyes. My vision isn't horrible by my family's standards, -4.5 in both eyes. Instead of farsightedness, I suffer from nearsightedness.

I've had glasses since second grade, and I've tried contacts sporiadically, but I never got used to contacts. I just don't like getting them in- touching my eye is extremely hard for me to do for some reason. Most people know me with glasses, so it's not that big of a deal anymore. I've looked at enough frames to find one that fits my facial features and symmetry the most (no circular frames here).

I guess it depends, glasses work better for me because my astigmatism doesn't affect my vision as much as with contacts. Plus, my contact prescription (or whatever you call it) is getting old- I see 20/15 with my current glasses.

 

[Atlas]

i just got my first pair of glasses less than 24 hours ago:/ i guess i can see much better with them but i dont plan on wearing them much, just for stuff like driving or watching subtitled movies from my bed (as opposed to watching them on my computer)

 

[Toothache]

I've had to wear glasses since I was 4, and I have to wear them all the time since my vision is that poor (damn myopia). I've just got used to it so it doesn't bother me.

What does bother me is anything going close to my eyes, needless to say I won't be wearing contacts any time soon

 

[CaptKirby]

In sixth grade, I hated glasses so much that I barely wore them, and my eyesight was still good enough it did not matter. Then I wore contacts for like two years until I got dry eye %___% now I just wear glasses all the time (my vision is way worse so meh)

 

[cookie]

I started wearing glasses when i was about 8, and started wearing contact lenses 4 years ago. Now I wear them more or less all day unless I don't go out anywhere, and can leave them in for about 18 hours with no problems. I've even slept with them on, which makes them painful to remove but causes no lasting problems.

Glasses smudge, fall off and look ugly and I'm so used to them now it feels weird sometimes when I put my glasses on. Most of my friends either have never seen me with glasses or can't remember.

 

[OrbitingDeath]

Wearing glasses since I was about 5/6 or 7 or so. They aren't a real annoyance to me, kinda got used to it. And to take contacts would be horrible, I dont really envy the idea of putting stuff on my eye. It just freaks me out.

 

[nardd]

I used to have glasses years ago, then I got contacts. These have been working out fine for me, I much prefer them over glasses. Contacts do make me a bit more sensitive to sunlight, but that's pretty much my only concern with them.

Eye surgery would be nice, but it's a luxury I can't really at the moment. Perhaps one day.

 

[ArabianPenguins]

Stupid glasses. They kept on falling off so I got contacts. Saved my life.

 

[Vidd]

Here's the only thing I dislike; the 8-hour limit. My doctor said I should wear for aprox. 8 hour max on a day, and sometimes like when partying occurs I wear them for much longer. I don't notice any change in my eyes, but I am careful enough about this.

Due to the "time limit", I use glasses at home and only put lenses when people visit for a long time or when I'm going out, that's my general rule.

Doomsday, I'm not sure if they're available where you live but only a year or so ago (perhaps longer?) I got newer contacts that did not have a limit as such.
I used to have ones with like 10-hour limits and especially on holidays, it got very irritating so I was glad when these ones came out.

I often wear them from 7:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. which is a bad sleeping habit, yes, but at least I have the option of wearing the lenses for that long!

 

[sbc]

Worn glasses since May 2006. ( On a side note it was the FA Cup final and the guy at specsavers happened to be a liverpool fan and they were losing 3-2,and so obviously gave him some stick. i walk back to the car only to hear Gerrard score from 40 fucking yards)

Back on track, I've never worn contacts. I like my glasses, they make me look sophisticated but they don't really suit me. I probably will end up wearing contacts, maybe when I no longer get subsidised glasses lol when I'm at uni in a couple of years.

 

[Doomsday]

Doomsday, I'm not sure if they're available where you live but only a year or so ago (perhaps longer?) I got newer contacts that did not have a limit as such.
I used to have ones with like 10-hour limits and especially on holidays, it got very irritating so I was glad when these ones came out.

That is pretty interesting, I must get more information about that. It would cut my eyes some slack!

 

[gaudetjaja]

I use both contact lenses and glasses!

Yes, my eyes suck that much. I have had cataract (go wiki it) since I was born, which basically means my natural eye lense is so blurred that it had to be removed, so now I have huge contact lenses (+14, +17) aswell as reading glasses (+3) (because my eyes can't shift from reading-mode to looking-mode as I simply do not have an eye lense).

I suppose my contact lenses have a time limit but I seriously don't care about it at all. Doomsday, just ignore the time limit, it's only there so the company can avoid being sued or something like that. You won't turn blind or anything...

Also you can use eye liquid (eye dropper or whatever it's called) so the lenses don't become dry.