Who's got them and why? I had an eye exam today and will be having to get glasses for the first time for astigmatism in my right eye. I should get my glasses sometime after the holiday.
I have had glasses for about 17-18 years now. I am extremely near sighted. Take off my glasses and I can only see clearing for about 7 inches in front of my face, everything past that is blurry. You learn to live with glasses. Plus you get to pick out fun glasses to wear.
I first got glasses when I was about 5. I used them 'til I was about 12, then I started using contact lenses instead. Something that annoyed me with glasses was that some headphones didn't fit that well when you were wearing them. Same problem with earmuffs. There was also the problem with not really being able to wear glasses when you went swimming. Anyways, those were some of the reasons why I started wearing contacts.
The reason why I had to use glasses is because I can't see well at all without them, when using both eyes. My left eye is an idiot. If I look straight forward with both eyes, without glasses or lenses, everything's really, really blurry. If I want to see anything, I need to let my left eye go lazy, and just focus on the fellow eye (the right one, in my case). I tend to see double, but it's usually not hard to tell which image is the real one.
I actually think that more people are going to get glasses, considering the amount of glasses on kids these days. I have had glasses since 5th grade, and more and more of my friends have been getting them since.
I have pretty bad vision (-3.25 power). I wear contacts now, but I wore glasses starting in fourth grade, then switched in eights grade. Contacts can be a real hassle, but I would never go back to glasses. They have much worse peripheral vision, they have to be cleaned, and they are never as clear. I (usually) can't even feel them at all.
Even with my contacts on, I have a hard to reading street signs from a distance while driving. This is extremely frustrating, because I often don't know what lane I should be in until it is too late.
I actually think that more people are going to get glasses
Vision tends to get worse with age, not better. But I actually disagree: as alternatives to glasses become cheaper and better, I think more people will opt out of glasses. I mean, if Lasik surgery becomes cheap, people who qualify will likely just get that instead.
I don't wear my glasses often, only when I'm reading a book/news article/newspaper/etc., or if I need to read something that is far away. I don't think that I'll ever get contacts because I don't like the idea of having to touch my eyes.
I might get some reading glasses (I have to read To Kill a Mockingbird over the summer and the text is so tiny), but other than that I don't have glasses or contacts.
My vision is amazing. I can read even the smallest letters on the chart.
Even if my vision sucked, I'd probably choose glasses over laser surgery. I don't like the idea of someone sticking a laser into my eye. Glasses are just....glasses.
One other thought, why are glasses no longer referred to as "spectacles"?
I guess people just don't think they're as *spectacular* as they once were. :P
Also, the surgery may be better in the long run. Glasses you have to repurchase every time they break; you don't have to rebuy laser surgery.
@All
I have glasses, but most of the time I wear contacts. I have astigmatism; in fact, my eyes were so bad when I was born that I had to have surgery immediately. Without glasses on or contacts in, I can allow my vision to go slightly blurry, or control it and see mostly fine. People say that, when I switch rapidly between blurry and clear, my right eye wanders back and forth. O_o
Yeah, I don't think that I'd ever get laser eye surgery either. I don't feel comfortable having a laser getting into my eye. I don't even feel comfortable when I'm getting my eyes checked for glasses. My eyes are very sensitive.
