# Vision Correction Poll **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 18, 2011, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vision-correction-poll/582302 "2011-05-18T12:18:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vision-correction-poll/582302/1 "2011-05-18T12:18:02Z")
What sort of corrective vision device do you wear? Make allowances for variance: for example, I wear my contacts almost exclusively, but I’ll put on my glasses when I’m in a hurry, or it’s late at night, or whatever. Poll to follow ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vision-correction-poll/582302/2 "2011-05-18T12:21:35Z")
Glasses exclusively. Considered LASIK but it’s not economically feasible at the moment. Never had contacts; I dislike the idea of sticking something in my eye. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vision-correction-poll/582302/3 "2011-05-18T12:29:45Z")
I started wearing glasses for nearsightedness when I was nine. I started using contact lenses in my twenties. When I was forty, I began to need reading glasses with my contacts, so I switched to bifocal glasses, then trifocals. In my early fifties, I got sick of moving my head up and down to try to find the right correction and got monovision Lasik surgery. I haven’t needed glasses for anything for five years. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vision-correction-poll/582302/4 "2011-05-18T12:35:34Z")
I wore contacts for many years. However, with advancing age, the astigmatism has gotten progressively worse, and the contacts could not correct for it. I now wear no-line bifocals exclusively. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vision-correction-poll/582302/5 "2011-05-18T12:37:52Z")
Glasses. My myopia continues to get worse, so investigating LASIK isn’t really feasible until that stops. I have pretty severe astigmatism and didn’t like the toric soft contacts I tried maybe 15 years ago - they would rotate slightly with each blink and then slide back into position - and haven’t been that interested in trying again. Maybe I’ll investigate options at my next visit. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vision-correction-poll/582302/6 "2011-05-18T13:02:31Z")
I am starting to get to the point where I may no longer continue to go with contacts. Now that I need reading glasses, I’m starting to think: What is the point? But for now I wear both about equally, leaning more heavily towards glasses only because I’m kinda getting lazy. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vision-correction-poll/582302/7 "2011-05-18T13:14:38Z")
I’ve been wearing glasses for over 30 years. Not the same ones, of course. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vision-correction-poll/582302/8 "2011-05-18T13:16:49Z")
None of the above, but I picked “I need corrective eyewear, but I don’t have any.” The more correct answer is “I need corrective eyewear, but I never wear them.” People need to read menus to me in restaurants. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vision-correction-poll/582302/9 "2011-05-18T13:23:41Z")
Wearing glasses since 1st grade, then at 17 years old I wore contacts for 13 years, but had to switch back to glasses. Would love to get lasik, but the optho-guy said that my eyeballs were not suited. pity. 20/400 ---
**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:** [May 18, 2011, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vision-correction-poll/582302/10 "2011-05-18T13:27:29Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > Wearing glasses since 1st grade, then at 17 years old I wore contacts for 13 years, but had to switch back to glasses. Would love to get lasik, but the optho-guy said that my eyeballs were not suited. pity. > > 20/400 Most likely you’re not a candidate for lasik, due to your cornea thickness. People with thin corneas should not have lasik done, because of minimal room for error. You might be a candidate for intra-ocular implants. Basically the same procedure they do for elderly cataracts patients. The FDA approved the procedure for cosmetic reasons about 5 years ago. The cost is the same about as lasik. Ask your eye doctor. ---
**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:** [May 18, 2011, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vision-correction-poll/582302/11 "2011-05-18T13:28:49Z")
Oh, and I wear contacts from the time I wake up till I go to bed. Have done so for the past 30 years. I would do the surgery if I had any problem with contacts at all, but I don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vision-correction-poll/582302/12 "2011-05-18T13:46:52Z")
Glasses all the time. I did contact lenses for a long time, but despite proper care, I developed a bacterial infection in the eyes and had to go on steroid eyedrops for a long time and just gave up on the contacts. It doesn’t help that my insurance only covers half a year’s worth. I never understand people who a) need glasses and don’t wear them, and I don’t mean reading lenses, but actual corrective lenses or b) seem to be able to wear their glasses only to look good but take them off most of the time. My eyes are not as bad as they could be, but they are pretty bad when I take the glasses off, though. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vision-correction-poll/582302/13 "2011-05-18T13:47:18Z")
I wear glasses for driving and watching movies. What this means in reality is that I lose glasses with amazing consistency since I wear them so rarely. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vision-correction-poll/582302/14 "2011-05-18T13:55:35Z")
I used to be very nearsighted, but I had LASIK in 2001. It gave me about 8 years of 20/20 vision. In the last couple of years my vision has slipped a little, so now I’m back to wearing glasses to drive at night, or if I need to see details at a distance. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vision-correction-poll/582302/15 "2011-05-18T14:34:06Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Most likely you’re not a candidate for lasik, due to your cornea thickness. People with thin corneas should not have lasik done, because of minimal room for error. > > You might be a candidate for intra-ocular implants. Basically the same procedure they do for elderly cataracts patients. The FDA approved the procedure for cosmetic reasons about 5 years ago. The cost is the same about as lasik. Ask your eye doctor. You are correct. I have hideously thin corneas. however, at $5000 a pop for implants, that will need to be changed as my prescription changes or $300 per eyeglasses, well, you do the math. ---
**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:** [May 18, 2011, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vision-correction-poll/582302/16 "2011-05-18T14:43:39Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > You are correct. I have hideously thin corneas. however, at $5000 a pop for implants, that will need to be changed as my prescription changes or $300 per eyeglasses, well, you do the math. The implants are supposed to permantly correct your vision like lasiks is supposed to. And the price I was told for implants is about $1300 per eye. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vision-correction-poll/582302/17 "2011-05-18T14:46:08Z")
I’ve got the kind of contacts you leave in, day and night, for a month. I take them out for a day a week to clean them and give my eyes a rest. They’ve changed my life. The only drawbacks I get are that it’s getting harder to read with them in, and I have mild but uncorrected astigmatism in my right eye. But the advantages outweigh the problems. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vision-correction-poll/582302/18 "2011-05-18T14:59:25Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I never understand people who … need glasses and don’t wear them… I can tell you two reasons why I refused to see the eye doctor (despite the fact that I’d known full well for over twenty years that I had terrible eyesight): 1. Wearing them is an admission of defeat; 2. Eye exam + contacts (or + frames + lenses) = expensive, particularly if you don’t have any sort of vision policy on your insurance. The fact that I came _this_ close to having a bad car accident due to my inability to see very well convinced me to suck it up and buy the damned contacts. ---
**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vision-correction-poll/582302/19 "2011-05-18T15:08:26Z")
Well, none of the poll choices really apply. I certainly don’t use contacts and glasses _equally,_ not by a long shot, but I do use both. 99% of the time I wear contacts. For various reasons, mostly related to my astigmatism as I understand it, I see way, way better with contacts. My vision is sharper, and I also don’t have to deal with that really annoying prisming effect from glasses, where I get a blue halo on one side of the object I’m looking at, and a yellow halo on the other side. Plus having no peripheral vision, which also drives me nuts. That said, I have glasses as a backup, in case there’s some reason I can’t wear my contacts. This doesn’t happen _often,_ but it has happened. The glasses are my “better than nothing” option. Funny this should come up today – I just got a new set of contacts this morning (I have rigid gas-permeables, not disposables, again for the aforementioned astigmatism), and it’s _such a relief_ to be able to see well again. I have more-or-less idly dreamed of Lasik or similar, but the cost is so far out of reach that I’ve never bothered to do any kind of serious research on it. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vision-correction-poll/582302/20 "2011-05-18T15:08:49Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > The implants are supposed to permantly correct your vision like lasiks is supposed to. And the price I was told for implants is about $1300 per eye. I asked, and my understanding was that it is not permanent. I will certainly ask again. thank you. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vision-correction-poll/582302.md?page=2)