In a discussion of eyewear at work, most people who wore contacts had done so since their teenage years and wouldn’t think of switching. The people who wore glasses said pretty much the same thing. Have you always stayed with either contacts or glasses? If not, what did you change to and why? And how many out there regularly switch between both all the time?
Sometimes it’s not a matter of choice. A lot of contact wearers have to stop at a certain age. I hit my early forties and was having trouble getting through a long day even with new gen contacts and a lot more fussing around than the prior 25+ years. The choice was going back to coke-bottles or laser… some high end PRK later, I have nearly 20/20 vision but of course need readers. Been… seven years, I think. Going back to glasses was not an option.
I wore glasses through my childhood and teens (because that’s all there was), contacts through my 20s and early 30s, and then glasses again once the dry eyes hit. During the years when I wore contacts, I wore them only during the day (and not always then) and I wore my glasses at night, because the only contacts available then were daily wear. If I were young now I’d just have LASIK and get it over with.
Now I wear multifocal glasses only, and half the time they’re sitting on the arm of the sofa because I’m doing something that requires close work. Aging isn’t fun, kids.
Mom wouldn’t let me get contacts as a teen, so I got them the second I moved out. Mild case of dry eye through my 20’s, still mild and not needing medication at 43, but enough to make contacts feel like sandpaper and making it through an 8 hour day, much less a normal-for-me 10 hour day became impossible. Back to glasses was a no-brainer around 35 years old. Laser surgery scares me because I know a couple of people who had problems. I just wear cool glasses and get them from Zenni so I have several pair.
Had glasses as a youth. I’ve went through several phases of favoring contacts, and still do for certain situations, but for the most part, I prefer the style/look of glasses. Also, I’m getting the very earliest hints of good ol’ presbyopia, and contacts do not work as well close-up for me any more. The day of the bifocal approaches…
Wore glasses for 15 years or so. I tried to switch to contacts somewhat recently, but I couldn’t do it. Too dry and scratchy. I needed drops every 15 minutes.
I only know sunglasses. I have a pair of Ray Ban Wayfarers I bought in 85 and a pair of Smiths that I ski with that I’ve had since 94.
I like consistancy. One of the few things you can count on.
I got contacts in high school and never went back to glasses. In fact, unless you know me really well you probably don’t even know I wear glasses and unless you know me really well you’ve never seen my glasses. I hate wearing glasses. I hate that if I push them up and touch the lens I have a big smudge I have to deal with, I hate that they fog up when I walk out of the cooler at work, I hate that I really have no way to get the rain and snow off of them if my shirt is wet too. Just too much of a hassle. In fact, for a while I was wearing Night & Day lenses that I could leave in 24 hours a day for something like 2 weeks (a month?). But after a few years of those they started getting uncomfortable. I’ve thought about LASIK, but I’m not sure I’m ready for that and I know my vision is still changing, maybe someday.
As of right now I have no interest at all in going back to wearing glasses during the day.
I switched from glasses to contacts when I needed to wear them all the time. I’m seriously paranoid about macular degeneration and wear sunglasses if it’s the least bit sunny. Switching glasses is such a pain; wearing contacts makes it easier.
My son started out wearing glasses. I let him get contacts when he was like 12 or so. He wore those for a couple of years, but recently decided that his glasses complement his “style” better and so has switched back to those. We just got him prescription sunglasses so his eyes will be protected.
Glasses from 12 to 20 or so, contacts from 20 to 32. Switched to contacts because I couldn’t find glasses that looked decent on me, the days of aviators, Lennon-style stuff, frameless models, etc. Started wearing glasses again on occasion from 28-on, once black-framed glasses that “fit” my face and style became popular again. The time it took to put contacts in/take them out/clean them was hard to reconcile with my time constraints of having two jobs and school; being able to nap in my car on campus, then slap my glasses on and be running to class in a few seconds was invaluable. Back to glasses exclusively from 32-on.
I have always worn glasses (since 2nd grade) and will never wear contacts. I consider glasses to be fashionable accessories and have multiple pairs of nice-looking frames, and I don’t like messing with my eyes at all, ever. I don’t even wear mascara often because it annoys me.
I’ve never had to correct my vision at all times, so my glasses stayed in their case until I needed them. Never considered contacts. I’ve watched people putting them in/taking them out and it squicks me to no end.
I got contacts in high school and wore them through college. Then got a job at a chemical plant where contacts were verboten, so switched to glasses even in off-hours. Occasionally went back to contacts when I switched jobs to a non-profit office. But now I’m back to glasses mostly even though contacts are permitted at the chemical plant I work at now. Contacts are too much hassle; I only really wear them when I work out.
Plus, I’m getting farsighted along with nearsighted, so it’s getting hard to read with my monofocus contacts in.
I wore glasses for about 15 or 16 years, then my fiancee asked me to try contacts. She said she liked my face and didn’t want it hidden in the wedding photos, etc. So I got contacts, wore them through the wedding and honeymoon and a little bit beyond and just hated them. Hated the feeling, hated the hassle of putting them in, whatever. So after a few weeks I put my glasses back on and have been wearing them since (another six years now).
She’s fine with it because she knows I gave it an honest shot but I just prefer the easy on/easy off flexibility and feeling of my glasses.
I’m a glasses-wearer who’s worn glasses since about the age of fourteen or so. I’ve never had any desire to wear contacts, because I like the way I look with glasses, I’ve hear that it can be difficult to put lenses in at first (and time-consuming even when you’re used to it, like what Jophiel said above), I don’t like putting things into my eyes, and also, I’ve heard that it’s bad to fall asleep with your contact lenses still in your eyes. And I never ever want laser eye surgery.
Glasses wearer since 4th grade, now adult, married, kids, etc. Tried to do contacts a few years ago, just to try…and it was a disaster. I am so reflexively anti-‘putting things in my eyes’ that even with the optometrist’s help, I could not manage it- my eye socket just clenched up. Oh, well.
I wore glasses from grade 3 to grade 8 and then switched to contacts. I moved back to glasses in my first or second year of university because I was sick of the hassle of cleaning them (and wanting to spend the money on beer instead of cleaning solution). As well, it was becoming more and more common for me to forget to take them out before bed when I was drinking and I didn’t enjoy the dry eyes that resulted so I went back to glasses. I went back to contacts about 3 years ago (when I was 39) because I was tired of having to carry regular glasses and sunglasses. I love my contacts now and can’t imagine going back.
I wore glasses from elementary school through freshman year of college, then got contacts. I was amazed how much they improved my vision – I went from seeing mostly green blobs to seeing individual leaves on trees at a distance. I’ve had contacts ever since – until I had lens replacement surgery in one eye. Now I have one contact lens. I tried a couple of times over the years to get glasses as a backup but I could never get a prescription that worked nearly as well as the contacts. So I’ll probably continue with one contact lens until that eye develops enough of a cataract to require lens replacement surgery. I first started wearing contact lenses when I was 19 and I’m now a few weeks shy of 68. I’ve used readers for the last ten to fifteen years, but only for close work.
I did contacts as a teen, but they required way too much care for me to bother with (this was before disposables), and stuck with glasses ever since.
Me too. Which would mean I’ve been wearing glasses for nearly forty years. Trifocals now.
Not only have I never changed to contacts, I’ve never changed my frames (I don’t mean I’ve never replaced my frames, I mean I still wear the exact same style of frames I wore in high school, although they’ve been replaced many times).