# Share your experiences of getting glasses as a young child **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 30, 2010, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-experiences-of-getting-glasses-as-a-young-child/558923 "2010-10-30T22:11:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![supergalactic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@supergalactic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supergalactic)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-experiences-of-getting-glasses-as-a-young-child/558923/41 "2010-11-02T04:49:57Z")
I got glasses in the early 80’s in middle-school. Right around the time I started getting ass-kickings. Later on in my mid-20’s I got some stylish specks, then the BJ’s started rolling in 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Viridiana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Viridiana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Viridiana)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-experiences-of-getting-glasses-as-a-young-child/558923/42 "2010-11-02T05:35:48Z")
I got mine around that age. The only thing that sucked was that we didn’t have much money so I didn’t have much choice about the kind of glasses I got, and ended up with big ugly plastic ones, which made me feel poor and inferior. If she’s picked hers out already I guess that’s not a problem, but my advice would have been to splurge for nice ones, since she’ll have to wear them for years. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-experiences-of-getting-glasses-as-a-young-child/558923/43 "2010-11-02T08:43:50Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > I was 7 when I got my first pair, and I don’t recall being picked on, other than the occasional “four-eyes.” Then again, I was one of the most picked-on kids, so they had plenty of other material. :dubious: > > Mostly I remember looking out the window of the optometrist’s office and seeing bricks on buildings and leaves on trees and being able to read street signs and being pretty amazed. COUSIN! I mean, I know you’re not my sister, I don’t have a sister. Coming out of the optometrist, I stopped so suddenly that my mother ran into me. “Nava! Watch where you’re doing, girl!” “B–b-b-… Mom! It’s got LEAVES!” Yeah. The tree across the street, which I’d been seeing every day for the last 8 years, had leaves. I used to think that the tops of tall trees were this big green balls, and the leaves were… like dandruff, they flaked off when they fell, but didn’t have an individual existence before that. I was 10 and never got any teasing for the glasses, the only place where I’ve seen a kid being teased for having glasses is in movies. But in the second grade in college, when we got labs and couldn’t wear contacts, we discovered that the reason there had been a lot of girls and almost no boys with glasses in the first grade was that the guys had been wearing contacts. We teased them unmercifully for that throughout the rest of our time there, given that it’s us girls who are supposed to be the vain ones… u-hu, girls are the vain ones, yeah… we also gave our classmates some advice on which frames to buy, because some of them apparently had mothers with no sense of aesthetics. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-experiences-of-getting-glasses-as-a-young-child/558923/44 "2010-11-02T09:56:52Z")
I wore glasses for a few years when I was about 7 to 9. We moved to Canberra and my mother took me to get a check up with a local optometrist. He asked why I was wearing glasses because my eye problem was a strabismus. He said it required surgery and the glasses were doing nothing. I had the surgery and didn’t need glasses again for 30 odd years. As best I recall I didn’t really care that I wore glasses (and back then they looked bad) although I didn’t play any contact sport until I stopped, but I’m not sure that there is a definite relationship. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-experiences-of-getting-glasses-as-a-young-child/558923/45 "2010-11-02T13:33:50Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Sort of - I have a strong astigmatism. I once calculated the odds…my problem is like 1% of the population. When I was a teen I could only wear rigid gas permeable ones. Now at least there are soft ones. > But that is just my point, that not all prescriptions are the same. I think it’s great some people can go cheap, but neither mine nor my SO’s are that cheap, and his problem is nowhere near as rare as mine. I wouldn’t trust an irresponsible kid with $300 contacts. You admit that you are representative of 1% of contact wearers. Did the OP say that her daughter was just like you? Given that most people don’t have the unique prescription requirements that you do, it’s more likely that the OP’s daughter is just generally near sighted and can be corrected by a pair of $7 contacts, that she throws away after a month of wearing. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-experiences-of-getting-glasses-as-a-young-child/558923/46 "2010-11-02T14:03:43Z")
> [@Wilbo523](#): > > You admit that you are representative of 1% of contact wearers. Did the OP say that her daughter was just like you? Given that most people don’t have the unique prescription requirements that you do, it’s more likely that the OP’s daughter is just generally near sighted and can be corrected by a pair of $7 contacts, that she throws away after a month of wearing. The point being my SO is nowhere near as rare as mine, as you would have noticed had you read further: > [@](#): > > but neither mine nor my SO’s are that cheap, and his problem is nowhere near as rare as mine ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-experiences-of-getting-glasses-as-a-young-child/558923/47 "2010-11-02T14:24:01Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > The point being my SO is nowhere near as rare as mine, as you would have noticed had you read further: Tell your SO to shop around. There are several on-line places that you can buy contact lenses for the prices I have mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![badbadrubberpiggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/57b2e6/32.png) [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-experiences-of-getting-glasses-as-a-young-child/558923/48 "2010-11-02T15:57:11Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > HA! Contacts are NOT that cheap for everyone. My contacts cost over $300. Of this, insurance pays for half a year’s supply, so I have to pay for the other $160 myself. Mine too, I think it depends on what exactly is wrong with your vision & what type of contacts you wear. I started wearing glasses when I was 8, and never got made fun of for wearing them - and I got made fun of for everything else, so it wasn’t like I was a popular kid. Glasses were (and are) common enough that they’re not really that big of a deal for most kids. I started wearing contacts when I was about 13, and now (at 29) I alternate between glasses and contacts. I like how I look in glasses, but see better with contacts and they’re better for sports/exercise, and if I want to wear sunglasses, since I don’t have prescription sunglasses. ---
**Author:** ![Velma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/85e7bf/32.png) [@Velma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velma)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-experiences-of-getting-glasses-as-a-young-child/558923/49 "2010-11-02T15:58:06Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > You have astigmatism and soft contacts? I didn’t know that was possible. I have gas-permeable due to my astigmatism, which is pretty severe. **Everything** about my eyesight is pretty severe. _:sigh:_ > > Regards, > Shodan Within the last few years more choices have opened up for astigmatism. I have moderate astigmatism and I have worn soft contacts for a while. I like the torics, I have 1 month disposables. A year’s supply is something like $150 (but I think I get a discount from my Dr. - he’s a family friend). So I can’t get the super cheap ones but there are options. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-experiences-of-getting-glasses-as-a-young-child/558923/50 "2010-11-02T16:43:02Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > I first got glasses in second grade, and all I remember is being able to see the board without squinting – I don’t recall being teased at all. I can second that. It was great to be able to see what things really looks like from a distance. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-experiences-of-getting-glasses-as-a-young-child/558923/51 "2010-11-03T05:57:07Z")
I got glasses in the fifth grade. I hated them- in the 80’s glasses were not really made for kids, it seemed. In time they got thicker and thicker. I really hated them. At 15 I got contacts and I’ve never used glasses for more than a short while. My daughter needs reading glasses. I was crushed for her. I was ready for the worst… Until I discovered she actually likes and wants to wear them. That did not compute to me but I was happy she was thrilled. Glasses are very cute now- a lot of kids wear them… They do not have the stigma they used to have. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-experiences-of-getting-glasses-as-a-young-child/558923/52 "2010-11-03T10:56:45Z")
I got glasses when I was in the 3rd or 4th grade. I was thrilled! I had no idea people were supposed to see this well! Mom and Dad were afraid I’d have to be forced to wear them and I can tell you truthfully that once I got them you would have had a hard time prying them away. I would have preferred not having to wear them - but I can tell you that since I did need them, I was glad for them. Once I got contacts I was even happier - but alas, now I’m at an age where, with my contacts I need reading glasses, so its back to glasses again! ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-experiences-of-getting-glasses-as-a-young-child/558923/53 "2010-11-03T11:15:30Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > Once I got contacts I was even happier - but alas, now I’m at an age where, with my contacts I need reading glasses, so its back to glasses again! If that sentence is code for “prescription is too high”, then check before going back to glasses. Or even if it is astigmatism. I have (with contacts, not eyeglasses) -10 or so in one eye, and slightly better -9 in the other. Plus astigmatism. The contacts I wear can go pass that level. They’re soft lenses, and they’re available online too. While I do have eyeglasses (just got a new nice cute pair), I prefer contact lenses on a day to day basis. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-experiences-of-getting-glasses-as-a-young-child/558923/54 "2010-11-03T11:27:16Z")
> [@KarlGrenze](#): > > If that sentence is code for “prescription is too high”, then check before going back to glasses. Or even if it is astigmatism. > > I have (with contacts, not eyeglasses) -10 or so in one eye, and slightly better -9 in the other. Plus astigmatism. > > The contacts I wear can go pass that level. They’re soft lenses, and they’re available online too. > > While I do have eyeglasses (just got a new nice cute pair), I prefer contact lenses on a day to day basis. I don’t think it is … maybe, and I’ll ask my doc what she thinks. But I pretty much wear the same prescription as I have for years. But at 48 I now find it easier to read with reading glasses. But yeah, I do find it interesting that with my regular glasses I read fine, and with my contacts I need reading glasses. Still, my doc says that all of us are likely to need reading glasses if we live long enough. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-experiences-of-getting-glasses-as-a-young-child/558923/55 "2010-11-03T13:06:06Z")
Far sightedness in older age (needing reading glasses), is a result of our eys losing their focusing ability. It’s common among people with perfect vision and near sightedness. As Karl Grenze alludes to in his post, if you are near sighted and wear contacts, your doctor can adjust the power in one of your eyes to compensate for this, so you lose a smidgen of distance sight, but can regain your reading vision without having to use reading glasses. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-experiences-of-getting-glasses-as-a-young-child/558923/56 "2010-11-03T13:22:10Z")
I got my first pair when I was 6, and even though they were spectacularly ugly horn-rimmed things (it was still the '60s after all), I don’t recall any other kids giving me a hard time about it. There was one weird side-effect, though. My prescription has always been very strong, which back then meant really heavy glass lenses. My right eye is worse than my left, so one lens was heavier than the other. As I grew up, the unbalaced weight caused the bridge of my nose to grow crooked, which it remains to this day. But I imagine this isn’t an issue today with lighter lenses. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-experiences-of-getting-glasses-as-a-young-child/558923/57 "2010-11-03T14:22:29Z")
I got my first pair at about age 10. I was pretty excited, actually; other kids were just getting their first pairs at about the same time. I actually hadn’t noticed much of a vision issue - my right eye is stronger than my left and had been compensating. It was caught at a routine school screening. My mother was actually the worst part of it - she kept telling me not to wear them because “they’ll make your eyes get weaker”. I thought this sounded pretty dumb, and even asked the opthalmologist, who said it was not true. When I repeated it to Mom, she said “oh well, what does _he_ know?”. Mom at that point had near-perfect vision (she wound up getting reading glasses a few years later). My son was caught at a screening at school in 2nd or 3rd grade, and was thrilled to get glasses. IIRC, he said something about now looking as good as me! Awwwwww :). My daughter actually told _us_ that she wasn’t seeing well (this was within a year after an eye exam showed too little nearsightedness to warrant correction). I think she was about 8. Sure enough, her eyes had gotten worse in just a few months. Now, she needs slightly stronger glasses than I do. We think she’s splitting the difference between dad and mom - Typo Knig’s eyes are much worse than mine, and Moon Unit is somewhere between the two. She has lost her glasses several times. I don’t see how, really - with vision roughly the same, I sure can’t go far without mine. She’ll panic and shriek that we have to help her find them. As if we had magical finding powers that zoom in on them without have a CLUE where SHE might have taken the damn things off. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-experiences-of-getting-glasses-as-a-young-child/558923/58 "2010-11-03T14:49:20Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > I don’t think it is … maybe, and I’ll ask my doc what she thinks. But I pretty much wear the same prescription as I have for years. But at 48 I now find it easier to read with reading glasses. > > But yeah, I do find it interesting that with my regular glasses I read fine, and with my contacts I need reading glasses. > > Still, my doc says that all of us are likely to need reading glasses if we live long enough. Yeah - the hell of being “of a certain age” is that you genuinely need different prescriptions for different tasks. Hence the evolution of bifocals and progressives. I’m one of those unfortunates who canNOT wear progressives. I have to have a separate pair for distance and for everything else. Now, I _can_ wear “room distance” progressives - which means they have adjustments that let me, say, watch TV and use the computer and read. The differences aren’t so radical there. A full-on single pair of progressives is an instant headache, unfortunately, and I’ve tried them several times. In fact, my newest glasses are being remade for the third time: first time the guy accidentally ordered ones that had the full range (reading to distance) despite 2 failures in the past with those. The second time, he tried giving me better distance (but not the full distance) - so I could see clearly maybe 30 feet away instead of 15 - and that was the same problem. Here’s hoping this time is the charm. I’ve heard of people setting up their contacts (or their Lasik) so that one eye works for distance and the other for reading and the thought is beyond horrifying to me. HOW can anyone live with their eyes telling them two different things??? ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-experiences-of-getting-glasses-as-a-young-child/558923/59 "2010-11-03T14:55:28Z")
I got glasses in the second grade. Until I went to see the eye doctor, I didn’t even know I had nearsightedness. My teacher was the one who told my mom I couldn’t see, I was seated at the back of the classroom and could not see what she wrote on the blackboard. My first pair were the typical 60s vintage black horn-rimmed glasses. I hated the look but loved the vision, and they were durn near bullet-proof. I was called ‘4 eyes’ for a week or two, and that was it. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-experiences-of-getting-glasses-as-a-young-child/558923/60 "2010-11-03T15:22:31Z")
About half of the adults in my life wore glasses, so when I got them in sixth grade, it felt like I was growing up. The first day at school in glasses got a few comments, just for the novelty, but there was very little period of adjustment. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-experiences-of-getting-glasses-as-a-young-child/558923.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-experiences-of-getting-glasses-as-a-young-child/558923.md?page=4)