This is my personal experience with both glasses and contacts – and I’ll start with the pros and cons of each as I see them.
Glasses
Pros
- easy to put on
- easy to clean
- easier upkeep
Cons
- annoying
- result nose dents over the years
- may need to switch between sets of glasses
- may need sunglasses over the regular glasses
Contacts
Pros
- vision is often better and clearer
- freedom from the weight of the glasses frame
- nice to have fresh air hitting one’s whole face
- you don’t fog ski goggles
Cons
- can be expensive
- can be time consuming to get them in
- they can rip easily
- they can pop out and get lost
- need to have lots of paraphernalia for their care [lens boxes, cleaners, etc.]
- you still need a pair of glasses – for those just in case times
I started wearing reading glasses when I was about 20 and had my driver license stamped “corrective lenses required” when I was about 45. As I am now 70 – that’s 50 years of wearing glasses and 25 years of needing them on all day every day.
As I am far sighted and astigmatic, contacts were not an option until they made them for eyes like mine! At every appointment with an eye doctor, I asked if there were contacts that I could wear and wow was I happy to one day hear “Yes!”
I had trouble getting them in and often reversed the right and left or had them inside out. And sometimes I had trouble removing them but I persisted because I loved not wearing glasses and especially liked that after a short time the dents in my nose disappeared.
Contacts can take some getting used to and learning how to keep right and left separated and seeing convex/concave correctly admittedly can be annoying. There were days I gave up. I set a limit of 3 attempts to get them in and then I gave up and put on my glasses.
As much as there were problems, when they were in, I loved my contacts. Still – over the years my eyes stopped liking the contacts and I had more and more issues with some different lenses. It may have been the prescriptions and I wound up switching eye doctors due to some of these issues.
Additionally, the newer contacts that are only good for 2 weeks cost more and they are also the ones that roll up and rip more easily – so that cost can mount.
But I love contact as I like the wind in my face, the lack of fog when I wear ski goggles and yes although I still need sunglasses – they aren’t on my face and nose 18 hours a day.
Lately I am not wearing contacts as I am going to have cataract surgery which will change my vision. But as soon as I can – I will go right back to contacts – problems and all.
Why? Because contacts make me feel better!
And in the end, one’s choice of wearing glasses or contacts [or a combination of both] is going to come down to two factors: your eyes and your personal preferences!
And now I invite you to stop by grow older better where you will find out more about YOUR healthy aging via my personal take on the process.