Vision Quest: the Eye Wear Poll (glasses, contacts, lasik, etc)

Reading glasses.

I didn't need any vision correction until my early 20s, when I got glasses for my nearsightedness. Distance vision had been getting blurry for several years at that point, and when I first put on my new glasses it was revelatory. I've been a glasses-wearer ever since, I've had partners who used contacts and it always seemed like more trouble than I wanted to deal with. In my 40s I switched to bifocals and then "progressive lenses," just so I didn't have to take my glasses off to read. At this point I'm so used to glasses that sometimes I literally have to feel my face to remember if I have them on. Plus as I've aged I've realized they provide some amount of cover for the bags under my eyes.

I've worn glasses since I was 9. I experimented with contact lenses in my 20s but didn't really get on with them. after I cancelled the subscription I still had a few boxes of them which I saved for things like going to punk gigs until they ran out, which must be nearly 20 years ago now

I don't need reading glasses yet, despite being told I'm on the cusp of needing them and would probably need them next time for about 4 eye tests in a row now. last time they tried to get me to buy some bifocals that just have clear glass in the bottom (no magnification) to save me the arduous problem of lifting my glasses up if I need to read something small, lol. I'll get bi/varifocals when I actually need them thanks

glasses for distance if i need to see detail. tried varifocals for reading/close up but i cannot get on with them

I wear glasses and/or contacts in a 50/50 split most of the time I'm awake, have needed to since my early 20s, hate them both, and am planning to get LASIK before the end of the summer

I guess "I wear contacts sometimes and glasses sometimes" is the best option for me?

i used to be a contacts girl, glasses only before bed or in the early morning or on days when i’m not leaving the house. then i got an amazingly cute pair of glasses and now i almost never wear contacts

have needed vision correction since i was eight years old :D

“glasses are the shoes of the face” is something my best friend said to me that really inspired me to finally get a cute pair i liked

I used to wear contacts for ooh 30 years but I wore my eyeballs out and now its glasses unless I'm reading.

Checked the first box, but--like most people in my situation?--I wear them all the time when awake, not most of the time.

My vision was absolutely fine until I was nearly 40 and has gone rapidly downhill since then, aged 47 I have varifocals and only take them off to sleep.

so funny to see this thread because my prescription recently exceeded the capabilities of daily contacts so i was switched to monthly contacts and WOW daily contacts are a massive scam, what a horrific product, made me borderline hate contacts, always fucked up and blurry. monthly contacts -- great product! i have to be more careful w/ them than daily contacts, but a small price to pay for seeing so much more clearly throughout the day

my thing w/ glasses is that i have retinal issues that make my eyes sensitive to bright light so i switched to contacts years ago in order to be able to wear sunglasses during the day... going outside in the summer w/o sunglasses, i can't even comprehend it. but i also haven't had glasses w/ an updated prescription in years so i only wear them early in the morning & late at night, but gonna change that soon and perhaps become more of a glasses outside the house person

Just ordered new glasses this week! Also had laser surgery on a retinal tear a couple of months ago which is the biggest thing ever to happen to either of my eyeballs. It wasn't HORRIBLE and it was deffo better than going blind but it was definitely not fun and once again going alone to medical appts is kind of a crock when you're shaky and in pain and they just send you back out into the world.

My Rx continues to get worse (since childhood, I'm in the club with ivy) and now apparently my gross malformation is endangering my structural integrity.

found out i needed glasses when i was 14 in driver's ed (before you ask: Montana). tried contacts for a while at one point but they are horrible.

I wear glasses all the time and have done since I was 8. I don't particularly like them but I'm not sticking contact lenses in my eyes and process of getting LASIK sounds horrific. Also I know enough people who've had LASIK long enough ago that they now need to wear glasses again, even if it's not at the strength of their original prescription.

I've needed vision correction since first grade, when I first got glasses. But I've worn contacts since around 6th grade, I think, with glasses reserved for before bed and when I first wake up. Now that I'm in my '50s, I need glasses to read, but my compromise is mono-vision contacts, with one eye underpowered to read with and the other Rx-accurate, to see distance with. It's not ideal, but it's not uncomfortable. I've considered going back to glasses all the time, but honestly, that would mean bifocals at best, or two pairs of glasses at worst, and besides, I hate lacking peripheral vision, and I hate wearing glasses when it's hot or cold or raining. Or when I'm active. Or pretty much all of the time except when I'm just waking up or going to bed, lol.

I have astigmatism, which is not ideal for lasik or the like, esp. at this point, but my wife got her vision corrected years ago (allergies made contacts difficult) and while she doesn't regret it, she does need moisturizing eyedrops all the time.

Late 50s, long-sighted = reading glasses. I'd like them on a neck strap for restaurant usage, preferably a glitzy one, but haven't yet dared.

My stupid toric progressive contacts are so stupid that they have to be special ordered and are taking SIX GODDAMN WEEKS. Is this because of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz? Did they need to refine the petroleum???

xp Opera glasses on a stick are absolutely the move here.

opera glasses are a nice idea, but you need one hand for your cigarette holder and another for your glass of dubonnet & gin, so maybe horn-rimmed pince nez on a gold chain like my terrifying 5th grade teacher Mrs O'Hara.

Needed vision correction since i was 9 or so, last tried contacts when i was 13 or so and couldn’t do it. Now glasses are just part of my look and it’s hard to imagine myself not wearing them. Vaguely curious about LASIK but i’m a wimp.

I wear glasses but not while I'm working... I can see pretty well without them during the day, but at night I'm blind

I have a pair of prescription sunglasses (fake Raybans) that I wear pretty much all the time when I'm out and about.. the prescription is really old, I haven't had it updated in years

I've worn glasses to improve my distance vision since I was 13 or 14. I can drive safely without them, at least in daylight, but feel more comfortable wearing them in the car. My short-range vision started to deteriorate in my 40s and I've worn bifocals for many years now. I'm told I have a few more years before I'll need cataract surgery.

I wear glasses for driving, reading, and not much else. I don't need them for working on a laptop or desktop computer, so my glasses are on and off all day, depending on what I'm doing. That may be why I've never been interested in contact lenses.

Have worn glasses since I was 4. I did wear contacts daily for about ten years, but now only wear them during exercise. (I just can't see very well with them anymore and my eyes aren't used to them).

i've worn contacts since i was probably about 14. unfortunately most brands slightly bothered my eyes until i started wearing Dailies Total 1, i can't go off those.

i still remember the days of non-disposable contacts, for the first couple years i wore them it was a real slog of cleaning solution, saline solution, irritated eyes, etc.

i wear reading glasses now, and going from not needing them to relying on them happened within the space of a year.

yeah the only time I dabbled with contacts was back in my 20s and I remember the cleaning regime was a big reason I stopped

I can read books and phones with the naked eye, and my distance vision is good, but I wear glasses for the intermediate zone, where computers live: about 24-30 inches from my face. They are a lifesaver.

I've just become a glasses-wearer in the last few months! I'm short-sighted so distance was becoming a struggle. Absolutely no way you're getting me to put things in my eyes so contacts were a no-go, and tbh I like glasses.

I'd like them on a neck strap for restaurant usage, preferably a glitzy one, but haven't yet dared.

― patrick thistle (Matt #2)

I've been thinking about an old-school librarian chain... I think it's so uncool it might go all the way back round to cool again.

Otm. “Ghostbusters, whadya want?”

Been wearing glasses since age 8 or thereabouts, maybe earlier; I know I had them in third grade but can't remember if I had them before then. But I only need them for distance and driving; when I'm working on a laptop or reading a book, I take them off. Lately, I need to push them up or down when grocery shopping, so I can read the grocery list, which is kind of annoying.

Even though I have a strong preference for my contact lenses, I'm choosing "contacts sometimes/glasses sometimes" because I tend to wear my glasses for large portions of the morning and afternoon for the exact same reason why I also tend to wear pyjamas during those same periods. My contacts seem to work better and are less intrusive. Also, my right eye recently got dramatically worse, and the eye doctor said they couldn't change the right lens in my glasses to match completely because there would be too much of a difference between right and left, which would cause headaches or something.

Oh yeah you don't have to clean contacts anymore! I'm excited to switch to...weekly? Monthly? I can't remember but one of those. (They don't make my kind in daily.) Disposables weren't even an option for me bc of my astigmatisms, toric contacts were very limited and then somewhere along the way that changed.

I love looking over/under my glasses now and putting them on my head for reading. I always wanted that. I'm living my dream.

I wear contacts daily. I take them off at home and switch to glasses, also when I run morning errands. Otherwise I'm vain about keeping glasses at home.

I've been wearing glasses since I was, 6 or 7? After I moved from a desk at the front of the class to one further back my teacher noted that I was getting out of my seat to get a closer look at what was written on the blackboard, so I imagine I'd been going about my life wading through fuzz up until then. I was told to read with my glasses off, but I didn't do that and now if I try to I have to hold the page about eight inches from my face.

I've tried (or tried to try) contact lenses a couple of times, but I just can't stop myself from recoiling when the finger is headed at my eye. But I also feel like having glasses is just an intrinsic part of what I look like. My eyesight has been pretty stable in my adult life, and, while I do feel maybe I need hold things away from me to read them a bit more than I used to, reading glasses don't seem to be on the horizon just yet.

Umm Alfred you must've missed the news

Brad Pitt in the frame as older men embrace ‘hot professor’ glasses

‘Late life’ male celebrities are turning the need for spectacles into a style statement as they refuse to disappear into fashion invisibility

I got my first pair of distance-lensed glasses at twelve. Stuck with glasses until 23, when I got my first pair of RGP contacts. The latter were my default most of the time for the next twenty years, apart from substituting glasses in the evening. Over the past few years, though, I have found it increasingly difficult to read with the contacts. So last year I got my first pair of progressive lenses and they're quite intuitive to use; I wear them to work most of the time now. (A liability with the glasses is that I work with kids who occasionally decide to grab them off my face. No breakage yet, thankfully.)

Apart from the emerging near-vision issues, the chief problem with the RPGs is that when I get dirt in my eyes it can be very painful. I have to stop what I'm doing right away, get the lens out, clean it and rinse out my eye. This can obviously be a major problem if you get around by bike, so I usually wear protective eyewear when biking in windier and more urban conditions. You'd think I'd stick with my prescription glasses for biking, but the world remains brighter and sharper with the contacts, and I don't have to worry about sweat and oils smearing the lenses. I still feel more "alive" in contacts, perhaps almost because of the risks associated with them.

I considered Lasik at one point but was under the impression there were more liabilities with it as you got older.

Yeah I will say that the eye-protective effect of wearing glasses comes in handy now and then, on windy days etc. On the other hand, in some conditions mine will fog up (even though I paid for whatever anti-fogging treatment they put on them). This has the most impact when I'm hiking and get hot and sweaty. I often just take my glasses off, because while I wouldn't trust my vision driving, my near sight is good enough to follow a trail and watch for rocks and roots.

contacts, don't mind them. i had started having to wear reading glasses with my contacts to read, especially in the evening, but i got switched to progressive contacts and now i can read without glasses again.

I have worn glasses since I was idk 6 or 7, hate it, have worn lenses since I was 13. I would get lasik but they assessed me and my pupils dilate past the point the surgery covers your vision and I’d have a blurry halo around my vision at nighttime, so why pay thousands for that?

capabilities of daily contacts so i was switched to monthly contacts and WOW daily contacts are a massive scam, what a horrific product, made me borderline hate contacts, always fucked up and blurry. monthly contacts -- great product! i have to be more careful w/ them than daily contacts, but a small price to pay for seeing so much more clearly throughout the day

Whereas switching to dailies meant that I haven’t had an eye infection in years. I am curious your prescription though, I have a quite high one myself and haven’t noticed a difference in monthly or dailies.

Also I got a pair of prescription sunglasses last year and honestly? Gamechanger for me, especially when I’m travelling and don’t want to wear lenses.

Just remembered that I started out wearing yearly lenses, Jesus CHRIST

Hahah I know, me too! And I had to clean them two different ways!! Remember those little cages you put them in?

I had 20/15 vision until I got to my forties. Then, I needed reading glasses that increased in strength until they reached +2.5 diopters. I developed astigmatism sometime around 47 or so, I eventually got a pair of progressive lenses when I was 49 because I was needing reading glasses to change my client's briefs. I was worried about glaucoma because my mother had it and my eyesight was deteriorating so quickly (I lost my night vision at 52 or so), so I paid the extra $30 the last time I got a new glasses prescription to get a general eye exam. I don't have it; but I do have mild hypertensive retinopathy and a touch of cataracts. I'm hoping that both of these hold out until I reach Medicare age.

My late uncle had malformed corneas and had these glass lenses a couple of cm thick which squeezed his eyeballs into a regular shape.

i was switched to monthly contacts and WOW daily contacts are a massive scam

Right after we graduated from college my girlfriend's first job was in sales for Bausch and Lomb — calling eye doctors' offices to prompt them to order refills or try new products etc. One thing she learned there (this was early '90s) was that there was functionally no difference between the daily and longer-wear lenses and it was just about making people buy more of them. Or that's what she relayed to me from office chatter, anyway.

Remember those little cages you put them in?

Oh God it’s all coming back to me

worn glasses since i was 17 , it was my driving exam that prompted me to get my eyes tested as i had to squint to read the number plate of the car the examiner identified. didnt mind it tbh except for playing football thru my 20s as my sight deterioated and not wanting to wear glasses on the pitch. or if im golfing in heavy rain. twice went for a contact lense fitting and both times the optician couldnt get the lenses in due to my squeamishness. currently have varifocals but tbh when reading a magazine or book i just take my glasses off.

When I first got glasses I couldn't stop reciting in my head, "You're blind/And you can't see/You need to wear some glasses like DMC."

When I first got my glasses, I decided it made me look like James Bond.

Years afterwards, I did wonder why I thought that, seeing as how he doesn't wear glasses does he?

Then I rediscovered: James Bond as played by Peter Sellers.

I have worn glasses since I was 17 for mild astigmatism and near-sightedness. I figured out I needed something right before I graduated from high school when I jokingly put on a classmate's glasses and could suddenly see the chalkboard much more clearly.

About ten years ago, I started wearing progressive lenses for reading fine print. My latest prescription about 2 years ago added transition lenses that tint in the sun. They don't get as dark as sunglasses but they are dark enough for me and worth it not to have to buy a separate pair of prescription sunglasses and fumble around switching them when on the go.

I can and do read a book in bed without any assistance.

I am a weirdo about putting even eye drops in so contacts have never been an option for me.

I’ve worn glasses since I was seven and I really like wearing glasses, my face looks and feels weird without them. I like wearing them, I like shopping for them.

I’m currently wearing a tribute to a very 70s style Alain Mikli design made by my Tokyo opticians. I have a couple of pairs of Cutler and Gross Sunglasses in the rotation as well. I was wearing masuhiro murayama for many years.

I love face furniture, more people should wear it, even those who don’t need glasses. Although I draw the line at frames without lenses in; that is fucking ridiculous.

opera glasses are a nice idea, but you need one hand for your cigarette holder and another for your glass of dubonnet & gin, so maybe horn-rimmed pince nez on a gold chain like my terrifying 5th grade teacher Mrs O'Hara.

― Camaraderie at Arms Length, Tuesday, August 11, 2026 1:21 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

After seeing Margaret Dumont in a Marx Brothers movie using a lorgnette pendant, I've sort of wanted something like that.

I've been nearsighted as long as I can remember, but I lived in denial until I was in college. Afterwards I started wearing contact lenses, and wore them most days until the pandemic. I've worked from home since then and only put in my lenses when I was going out some place where I wanted to make a nice impression.

I agree that a good pair of glasses does a lot for a face. The difficulty is that my head is so large (like just everything else about me; no wonder I have complexes) that cute eyeglasses don't fit. My current pair has a large square generic men's frame.

I'm surprised by the number of people itt that say they can't touch their eye, put anything in their eye, etc, as a reason for never in their lives trying contacts. Glasses are a prison. I won't say I "hate" them because there's no point, I'm completely dependent on them and they work great as an accommodation for my disability which is being visually non-functional. But not having to wear glasses is physical freedom! You can go swimming, play a sport, wear sunglasses! I do not love glasses. I don't even enjoy them as "face furniture." I feel like they're a barrier to perceiving my "self," as represented by my face.

Otm. I will though. I fucking hate wearing glasses. It genuinely galls me that I can’t get surgery.

I'm surprised by the number of people itt that say they can't touch their eye, put anything in their eye, etc, as a reason for never in their lives trying contacts. Glasses are a prison. I won't say I "hate" them because there's no point, I'm completely dependent on them and they work great as an accommodation for my disability which is being visually non-functional. But not having to wear glasses is physical freedom! You can go swimming, play a sport, wear sunglasses! I do not love glasses. I don't even enjoy them as "face furniture." I feel like they're a barrier to perceiving my "self," as represented by my face.

― Ima Gardener (in orbit),

The thread's most otm post.

Yeah, even having worn glasses since I was little, if I could still wear contacts all day, every day; I would.

I had contacts for a while as a teenager, but I gave up on them after wearing them to a show where I got kicked in the face and one of them fell out, so I had to take the other one out and throw that away too, and then I had to get home half-blind. No more contacts for me after that.

But that can happen with glasses too!

That's what I was about to post. I almost always bring my glasses with me when I wear contacts - just in case.

You can go swimming

Well, as other people have pointed out on this thread, you probably shouldn't go swimming in contacts if you value your eyes being ameoba free.

I've always swum with contacts -- I don't open my eyes in water.

otherwise I'm completely blind

_You can go swimming_

Well, as other people have pointed out on this thread, you probably _shouldn't_ go swimming in contacts if you value your eyes being ameoba free.

Goggles?

Yeah, goggles would work. Tbh it sounds like most people go swimming in them anyway, so I guess the amoeba thing is pretty rare - just oof, gives me shivers thinking about it.

This might be a completely wild and stupid comparison, but in some ways the split of love glasses/hate glasses reminds me of similar conversations about wearing a bra. A massive amount of my friends hate wearing a bra, they find it stifling and uncomfortable and nasty, but for me I feel much more comfortable and secure while wearing one, it gives me freedom rather than restricting it. As I say, maybe a ridiculous line of thought there, but fuck it, I'm posting it anyway.

I have keratoconus, where the cornea thins out in random places and loses its nice hemispherical shape to become more cone-shaped. I have a silicone ring in my right eye, wear hard lenses that grab the eye around the cornea and shove it back into shape, and had a treatment done where they make incisions in the cornea, drop in riboflavin and stimulate it with UV light to strengthen the cornea.

Fun fact: all eye surgeries were done with local anesthesia only. I was fully awake to watch them come at me with the knife. Didn't even strap my head down, just said "hold still."

Oh dear god, no.

I'm a bit mystified by these posts about wearing sunglasses and going swimming tbh

you know you can get prescription sunglasses and goggles right? and they are both very cheap? my prescription goggles cost £10!

Literally every time I go to the optician for years now they give me a warning at like length about showering with lenses in. After pointing out that I’m so paranoid about that I don’t even put them in for at least half an hour after showering, I asked why they were so emphatic about it. Is it really that common? I stupidly asked

Them: ABSOLUTELY IT IS SO COMMON AND THERE’S SCARE STORIES ABOUT IT ALL THE TIME AND PEOPLE DON’T PAY ATTENTION, PLEASE DON’T SHOWER WITH YOUR LENSES IN

Me: 🫪

I'm a bit mystified by these posts about wearing sunglasses and going swimming tbh

you know you can get prescription sunglasses and goggles right? and they are both very cheap? my prescription goggles cost £10!

Mine weren’t, but my prescription is high and I need to get the lenses ground down! I do have them now but for me much like glasses themselves there’s no real way around that part sadly.

And I do understand the bra comparison. I don’t really like wearing a bra generally but I do it cos I have to! If there was a similarly effective way to get the support without the wiring or whatever I’d probably feel similar, but very much necessary to put up with. Much like people with 20/20 vision I envy the people who don’t need one.

When I got my last pair of glasses I got a matching pair of prescription sunglasses at the same time. I rarely wear them, except to drive during the peak of summer or when the sun is really glaring off the snow in the winter.

Prescription sunglasses aren’t cheap at all.

Wearing underwires gives me gender euphoria; it makes me feel like my breasts are bolted on.

xp Yeah my prescription Ray Bans were like $300 (and that was without doing progressive lenses, because I don't need that in shades, just the distance). But I use them all the time. They live in my car, but I also wear them any time I'm doing something outdoors and sunny. (My cost also reflects the fact that our paltry eye coverage pays for exams but not hardware.)

looooool prescription glasses are many hundreds of dollars and then you potentially have to have three different pairs of glasses: vison, vision + sun, and sun only for when you're wearing contacts. Warby Parker are genuinely the cheapest I can find and that's because they keep their frames down to $95; most commercial frames at opticians' offices are $300-500 for non-designer (an estimate from last time I looked at them; I fled in panic).

I've never heard of prescription goggles ever. Obviously not needing vision correction is THE DREAM but being well served by contacts is second best. Acknowledging that they dont work for every form of vision impairment and people's comfort levels, obv.

The swimming amoebas thing I'm going to choose to ignore, I can't afford the damage to my life + happiness it would represent. Lake Michigan is perilously clean thanks to zebra mussles and the ocean is a self-cleaning oven due to salt concentration, that's what I choose to believe.

The two-pairs-of-glasses thing is a pain for sure. Not an issue in the car, but like if my wife and I are out for the day walking around. Fortunately for me she is more often than not carrying some kind of bag that can accommodate a glasses case, otherwise it's awkwardly wedging them into a pocket. Maybe I should own some cargo shorts just for this circumstance.

my prescription sunglasses were £40. maybe this is some weird transatlantic thing? because those weren't even the cheapest ones you can get them for £25. you guys are getting seriously ripped off

Prescription sunglasses aren’t cheap at all.

Yeah, they cost exactly as much as my regular glasses. I decided to just take the hit. Sometimes I buy myself expensive things.

I haven't gotten prescription sunglasses b/c they're so damn expensive. I'd wear my regular glasses more often in the day if I had accompanying sunglasses.

I got 99+ body image problems, but a well-fitting bra manages some of them. I envy women who can go braless without discomfort, and laugh at men who want to abolish bras.

What's more, my vision plan, which apparently is one of the better ones in the US, won't cover more than one pair of glasses
every two years. So, I'd be out of pocket for sunglasses or swim goggles (I've never heard of prescription goggles, either)

Trump needs a bra.

you guys are getting seriously ripped off

Oh you don’t know the half of it.

My new ones were $120 including the frames; the frames were $30.

I was able to get away with using last year's prescription, fortunately, since I was still without my truck.

That's an extremely good deal!

just out of interest I googled "prescription sunglasses usa" and "prescription goggles usa" and it turns out they do exist in your country after all. and on the first results they start from $48 and $11 respectively. that is for distance lenses tbf, they are more for progressive/varifocals/etc. but it turns out I wasn't lying when I said £40 amd £10 is how much I got mine for and you can too if you can be arsed to look

I’d love to know where I can get out of the cost of getting my lenses ground down. All this time I thought it was just an unavoidable cost tied to my prescription but it turns out I just wasn’t arsed to look?

that post wasn't to you unless you've moved to the USA and I didn't know, in which case I apologise

I get that but you’ve made this point a few times itt and ignored comments by me and TH saying that it’s not really true, including my point that cost of grinding down lenses matters. Which it does. I imagine other people with their own conditions or needs etc also can’t avail of these prices.

the only person who made those comments was you. Tracer didn't say anything other than "prescription sunglasses aren't cheap" - yeah if you have a particular need they'll be more. but people itt are acting like things like goggles just plain don't exist or they can't get them on their plan - when you don't need to get them on a plan? or that sunglasses are more expensive than their regular glasses. which doesn't make much sense

i wear glasses while awake

a pair for walking around that handle both near phone usage and short sightedness since my last prescription with a snazzy varifocal arrangement. these were expensive.

a pair for work tailored to detail six feet away. cane as part of the package with the above.

disposable contact lenses for sport.

didn't get glasses until the age of 17 and dont have any complex about wearing them as a result i think

tbf I just did a search and prescription sunglasses from Vision Express - often the only option in a lot of places in the UK - start at £90 which is a lot cheaper than I'd thought.

Ryanair flights start at 99p

xp if you find a pair you like at Vision Express, note the model name and search for them somewhere like glassesdirect.co.uk they will probably be cheaper than that

Started wearing glasses at 8 and contacts at 15 or 16. I have verifocal glasses and contact lenses now.
I've had to wear my glasses for extended periods throughout the years of time because I used to wear them too much/sleep with them in and that's bad. I really like the way I look in glasses but I get annoyed by them for all the reasons people have said. I used to wear them almost 24/7 but the verifocal lenses aren't great so I've been wearing my glasses a lot more recently. I just wish they never slid down my nose or got foggy/dirty. Also, yeah, if you have a relatively simple RX you can get that from the eye doc and order your own glasses/sunglasses/goggles online extremely cheaply. Where's Finefinemusic. She is an expert at this and has, quite literally, dozens of pairs.

Also I had hoped this was about the movie when I first saw the thread.

ha, same thought a couple days ago

No specs in Vision Quest, but Modine had a nice pair in Full Metal Jacket.

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/64/14/12/641412a73454fe2854473b3c2dbabc10.jpg

I honestly can't figure out how to shower without contacts. One, I need my contacts to see! I have terrible vision. Two, I shower *after* I exercise (like a civilized person), but don't exercise with glasses on, so I'd have to put in my contacts to exercise, then take them out to shower, then put them in again after my shower, which seems like it introduces *more* chances for contaminants to get in my eyes than just showering with contacts in?

Fwiw, I have extended wear soft contacts, and have worn them for decades, with no problems, which is maybe why my doctor has never suggested daily wear, but maybe I will ask him the next time I'm in. They seem more hygienic, but there must be a reason they've never suggested I switch.

I only started wearing glasses in my twenties, but I love them. I look weird without them, and I don't like air and dust blowing into my naked eyeballs like some kind of freak. No thank you.

What is there to see in the shower besides shampoo and whatever you use for soap? I'm blind as a bat and I do fine.

That's what I was just thinking. I can't read the text on the bottles or anything but I know what's what by shape/color. For shaving I go by feel Idk - it's never been an issue but I guess my eyes aren't that bad - I'm -2.25 in my left eye and -3.0 in my right.

Shaving (post-shower) I can go by feel (I'm bearded, it's just my neck, anyway). But in the shower, my feet wouldn't even be in focus, and given it's sandal/flip-flop season, my feet tend to get a little grungier/dirtier than usual, so it would be nice to see them to make sure they're clean. I do give myself a haircut/trim/beard-trim weekly or so, and I do that pre-shower as well, and can't really wear glasses when I do that, either.

But yeah otherwise showering blind is probably fine, with the exception of the aforementioned reasons to have contacts in *before* my shower.

As a glasses-wearer, I absolutely do not wear glasses in the shower lol. But of course, I'm near-sighted so seeing in the shower isn't an issue. I'm pretty sure I could shower effectively with my eyes closed tho.

I wear glasses when I shave after shower.

For sure, glasses for shaving. Gotta do that detail work. The beard line!

One, I need my contacts to see! I have terrible vision

Not in the fucking shower you don’t unless you’re actually legally blind

xpost Don't your glasses fog?

I got glasses for the first time a few years ago, and I wasn’t sure about where to get them or costs or logistics. I asked my wife, who has worn glasses her entire life, to go with me to help figure out how to do it.

For whatever reason, she didn’t go with me and waved it off, “just get some glasses you like.”

So there’s a shop at my optometrist and I went there. I only liked one pair of glasses, so I got those. Now, in my mind glasses are very expensive. I know this because of A Christmas Story. So there’s glasses are around $700 and I think fucking hell, I guess that’s what glasses cost. I go home with the glasses and my wife likes the look of them and then she looks closely and notes that they are the brand with the alligator on them and she asks how much they cost and I tell her and she’s shocked. I mean, I can’t help it if she is constantly overestimating my intelligence.

Can I introduce a new angle of discussion?

Disabilities rights people, this is your moment! I'm always fascinated by the positive acceptance of glasses as a disability accommodation when so many other accommodations and devices remain stigmatized. Like...what world could we have if hearing aids were also jewelry? Literally earrings?? Or mobility aids were, like...assistive skeletons like mechas??? Or any number of other things! (Idk what's really possible there and I also am not conversant with what people with mobility challenges are messaging in this area, so ymmv.)

Glasses, though, have thoroughly won the lottery of social acceptance. Why? Etc discuss

“No, you can’t return them!!!”

xp to myself

I mean glasses can easily cost $700. Frames by well-known "designer" labels can be $250-500 no problem and lenses are usually a hundred or two hundred bucks depending on the details. Obviously you very much do not have to get those, any more than you have to get designer clothes. But there are definitely differences of quality when there really don't need to be. There's probably only a few bucks' worth of plastic and metal in any given pair of frames, but some definitely are strong and durable and worth putting expensive Rx lenses in them, and some are "disposable" and likely to break before you outgrow them or wear them out. Sunglasses and reading glasses are mostly in the latter group. (After all, if you didn't break them, you'd never have to buy another pair!) Some are adjustable to your face shape (my ears aren't the same height so I have to have a lot of customization or they'll be crooked) and others don't have enough flex or a metal armature that can be adjusted. And you have to go to a trained vendor to get that stuff done safely (mainly I think they heat up the frames so they're more pliable and can be bent).

Because the profit scheme is ruinous for people who NEED GLASSES we finally got all these cheap online places, and I think that's so fun and helpful although I personally need to try them on and get them adjusted irl so I haven't tried them out.

xp to myself

Everyone who has glasses already knows all of that, I was mostly replying to CP.

I'm always fascinated by the positive acceptance of glasses as a disability accommodation when so many other accommodations and devices remain stigmatized.

Yeah, and not just as an aesthetic thing, but also the "glasses-wearers are clever" stereotype. I think canes also have a history of being a cool aesthetic addition but we've still got a long way to go with other accommodations. I have definitely seen some evidence of it happening (wheelchair decor etc), but usually in online subcultural groups and not as any kind of wider social norm.

My partner has some hearing devices (which she rarely wears) which look like earrings. She can also double tap on them and access Siri, send whatsapps and order her Sainsbury delivery via dictation, so she is practically a cyborg at this point. A very sexy cyborg.

See, that is so cool and we should be able to have that without Meta-style involuntary surveillance being inextricable from things that would actually help people.

Part of it is that at a young age we’re exposed to loads of people of all ages wearing glasses. It’s pretty universal, although significantly more older people wear them.

They’re more or less optional. If I don’t want any of the associations with glasses, or if I don’t like the way they look, I can wear contacts. So glasses are a choice and that can be 100% for looks and fashion.

As a guy who definitely has feelings for the Hot Librarian type, my wife’s glasses make me happy. At one point she was considering lasik but she was on the fence, nervous about what could go wrong. I encouraged her to do what felt right for her, but that I loved the way they look. She did not get lasik. Besides all that, it was $$$

I honestly can't figure out how to shower without contacts. One, I need my contacts to see! I have terrible vision. Two, I shower *after* I exercise (like a civilized person), but don't exercise with glasses on, so I'd have to put in my contacts to exercise, then take them out to shower, then put them in again after my shower, which seems like it introduces *more* chances for contaminants to get in my eyes than just showering with contacts in?

yeah im the same with shoes i mean fuck it right

IO - I've recently seen decorative covers for insulin pods, hearing aids that look like earrings, atist made finger splints for people with EDS etc but I think you're right about glasses and that that's a relatively new thing. It's really cool.

Neat! I would love to see radical acceptance and style brought to all the things people need/use.

I think the effect of decades of glamorous eyewear campaigns also helps

https://edandsarna.com/blogs/blog/the-top-10-vintage-eyewear-adverts-of-all-time

NB I do not agree with this list but the examples are what I’m talking about.

https://i.postimg.cc/1XMP5dX6/IMG-9289.jpg

Coming late to the thread.

I've worn glasses at the age of seven, for astigmatism and nearsightedness. I'm a -4.5/-4.25, and so contacts can work for me. I used the biweekly soft lenses from my teens to my thirties. Contacts were driven by vanity; I did not find them "easier" than glasses. As I've aged and my eyes have dried out, I've found can't tolerate them as well. Recently, I've moved full-time back to glasses. I do not need bifocals, and my close-up vision is fine.

Last year, I went to a "free lasik evaluation" at the clinic near my house. I was curious about the possibility of laser correction, but unconvinced. I was sweet-talked into scheduling the surgery two days later. I genuinely don't consenting, but I do remember walking out with a bill, a sheaf of pre-op instructions, and a surgery date.

On the day of the surgery, I learned that I would (after laser correction) need to begin wearing glasses for reading, and that due to the dryness of my eyes I would probably experience discomfort and blurring for at least a year. This, in addition to the fact that I couldn't recall consenting to the surgery, sent me bolting out of the office. I am glad I made that decision.

I buy glasses from Moscot and See Eyeware, and Matsuda because they are handmade, customizable, transparent with pricing, and knowledgeable. They are expensive. I hate everything related to the Luxottica cartel, which are increasingly enshittified and overpriced w/o any of the benefits of the independent shops.

Approximately every 18 months I spend ~$750 on a pair of glasses. This is hugely expensive to me, but it's offset about 50% by vision insurance. (Non US people: in most cases optical care is not covered by health insurance, so you need an optional separate insurance if you are a person with eyes). Because I wear glasses all the time, I need to pay upcharges for (1)high index lenses and (2) anti-reflection coating.

I love Moscot for unbeatable styles and way more aesthetic options but yeah that's a different financial bracket from me. I mean I guess I could use my FSA but it just seems out of reach.

I also hate the Luxottica cartel and have been buying alternatives for years. I've liked frames by Mykita and Barton Perreira. For the past two years I've been in ProDesign, but I have never cared for the fit. I think I'm going to look at Moscot and Matsuda for my next pair. I like Dita, but feel like they might be a bit too fashion forward for me.

Approximately every 18 months I spend ~$750 on a pair of glasses

Wow... I think my prescription is from the Obama administration? not joking! And I *have* vision insurance through work

It's cool that your eyes haven't changed much. Most do. I get exams every years and usually after two years I can tell I'm ready for a stronger script.

every two years, that is.

I did get a new prescription to get lenses for these really cool-looking 1960s air force metal frames... they look cool but they're not very comfortable and feel like they're sliding down my nose. But the lenses are very sharp, so probably stronger than my normal glasses

I'm always fascinated by the positive acceptance of glasses as a disability accommodation when so many other accommodations and devices remain stigmatized.

Super interesting observation, and this has evolved over time, right? I feel like glasses used to be stigmatized more than they are now — for women, there was the old saw "Men don't make passes at girls who wear glasses," and for guys there has always been the nerd/poindexter stereotype. Glasses turn Superman into Clark Kent, and taking them off turns prudish librarians into sexy beasts. But I do think there's less of that now? Maybe it's that more people have some level of vision care than did in say the 1940s or '50s? I don't even know if that's true but I'm guessing it is. Also glasses have gotten more stylish over the years, wider range of options, etc.

Oh no I really like the frame options at Dita, thanks a lot.

And by "thanks a lot" I mean you shouldn't have.

In terms of vision changing over time, mine seems to have stabilized. For about 25 years, when I went in for an exam every 2-3 years I could count on it being a little worse than the last time. But I've almost no change for the last 8 years or so. Which is nice and keeps me from having to buy new glasses too often.

Yeah tipsy I'm sure that has happened! Cf the fashion advertising campaigns that gyac linked to...maybe with plastics advances there started to be more options than black chunky plastic with glass lenses? Those would be quite heavy. The internet says plastic lenses were rolled out in the 1940s.

When I bought my most recent frames I told the woman I wanted Malcolm X-style frames and she just stared at me blankly. I pulled up a picture on my phone and she nodded and I got what I wanted. Ah, Montana...

https://aaregistry.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/malcolm-x.jpg

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

This whole thread and no mention of momus! How times have changed haha.

There's a great budget brand of frames here called Dresden - they make the frames out of recycled plastic and stick to like 1 or 2 frame styles, but in dozens of colours and you can swap the arms in with these funky plastic screws so you can mix it up - I got 2 pairs for less than $200 and thats with both pairs being multifocal. Sadly the local franchise near me closed, and I desperately need new "walking around" glasses as being an indoors hermit has fucked up my longsight vision somewhat (or my diabetes is playing up, who knows).

I hate contact lenses, when I last tried them I had to wear some kind of "semi hard" ones because of an astigmatism. Every time I blinked the lens would move around on my eye and thus blind me with blurriness. They hurt. They itched. I lasted six months then gave up.

I have such dry eye problems now I daresay I'd still have issues. And anyway I'm like Ed - I feel like I look weird without glasses on!

I'm surprised by how much those of you in the US are paying for your glasses. In the UK there is NHS support for some people, but not most, but most people will be able to find fairly stylish, fairly well-made glasses for under £100. (I'll be getting a new pair soon and it will likely be from a shop that does £85 glasses with thinned lenses and other lens treatments included.) And with uncomplicated lenses you can easily be getting a decent pair from lots of online shops for a few quid.

I'm always fascinated by the positive acceptance of glasses as a disability accommodation when so many other accommodations and devices remain stigmatized.

Yeah, and not just as an aesthetic thing, but also the "glasses-wearers are clever" stereotype.

Yeah it would be interesting to dig more into the cultural history of this. I wonder if there are notable turning points to identify, e.g. did some Cary Grant role help orient the transition from glasses as signifier of cleverness (but possibly also stuffiness) to also one of stylishness, was that further cemented by some Robert Redford role, etc. (I feel like the material advancements like lens-thinning techniques must be playing a big role too - it's probably not possible for glasses to look quite as goofy as high-prescription lenses often did even thirty years ago.)

Is there a lingering class component to it? I assume that back in the day it was more common for people with money to have glasses.

Maybe the opposite? More common for people with money to have contacts?

xpost Re: buying glasses in the US, there are plenty of glasses to be had for a pittance, don't let these folks paying hundreds and hundreds of dollars a year give you the wrong impression, lol. I'm due a new pair of frames, and the ones I was looking at were I think $17.

Well it's not the frames that cost the hundreds of dollars.

Here's a U.S. Reddit discussion of "why are progressive lenses so expensive." People cite the expected range of causes. Apparently Costco is a good place to get glasses? I've never been in a Costco.

https://www.reddit.com/r/glasses/comments/1b54797/why_tf_is_progressive_so_expensive/

We go to Costco for eye exams. The opticians there are not Costco employees, though, aiui they just operate out of each Costco.

Man, health insurance is such a racket in this country anyway, but the fact that vision and dental is separate is just such a twist of the knife.

So crazy, and all artifacts of the systems that got set up after WWII as a way to block/forestall a real national health system. And Americans continue to tolerate it, which is the craziest part.

Tolerate it or ... just don't go to the doctor/dentist/eye doctor. I was talking to someone at our dentist last week, and she was telling me how so many of their patients have been conditioned not to go in because they assume it will be expensive *even when the service is covered by their insurance!*. So they skip the cleaning/exam, which is covered, because they think it's expensive, and then when they do get a cavity (or worse), something that could have been discovered or treated early on, and have to go in, that costs more time/money.

Well by tolerate it I mean have yet to rise up in sufficient numbers to overturn it. But yeah I think a lot of that is a conditioned sense that things can't actually be better so you should just take whatever you get and suck it up/walk it off.

Meta trying to rinse their perve specs via the disabled community in Ireland https://www.engadget.com/2236054/meta-donates-15000-ray-ban-meta-glasses-to-vision-ireland/

My new glasses just came in the mail this morning! Well, by Doordash. Which is actually a whole problem and I didn't know it would be a DD driver until after my order shipped.

Wtf happened to using the postal service??? At least they would have put it in my mailbox. My driver didn't call or ring the doorbell--I watched him park, walk up, snap a pic, and then walk away (as I was going to the front door). And then he lied about it and said those were the instructions. Wtf I specifically said the opposite, it's right there in the delivery info. If I hadn't been out there, my glasses would have been stolen in like 15 mins.

They were $150 I think btw, bc I need high-index lenses. I skipped the coatings and stuff that could have made them $200 or $250.

I'm surprised by how much those of you in the US are paying for your glasses. In the UK there is NHS support for some people, but not most, but most people will be able to find fairly stylish, fairly well-made glasses for under £100.

honestly, after insurance my exam, progressive lenses, and high-end frames aren't costing me a ton more than this out-of-pocket. when talking about how much anything health related in the U.S. is, the answer is always: Insurance. I'm sure the companies who manufacture and sell most optical components are getting 90% of their money from insurance companies, which I guess our employers mostly pay for.

My insurance doesn't cover that much. I used to have better coverage several jobs ago, under a different employer, but that was around 15 years ago. For example, while my glasses only cost me around $150, a year's supply of contact lenses was iirc...$650 or more? I think with a promotional coupon I got down to $550.

I buy glasses when I go overseas, frames cost what frames cost but lenses are about a 1/3rd what they are in Australia in Japan. I’ve had some prescription cycling sunglasses mail order from Hong Kong before, they were pretty good (although that’s one of the things I wear contacts for).

That said my prescription is pretty straightforward so YMMV

Getting to the thread late. I've been wearing glasses and/or contacts for the past 56 years and my prescription is pretty extreme: -6.50 and -8.00. I've pretty much standardized on Salt's "Reid" style for both my regular glasses and sunglasses ao I just have a permanent eBay search going for them. Inevitably some importer needs to flush stock and they'll dump it on eBay at about 66% off. Fakes are always an issue (obv. more so with the super high-end brand stuff) so stay with the high-ranked sellers and yr fine.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Four eyes ftw

We're mostly much too old for the perfect vision people to predominate, but the phrasing of that option may have deterred some of them from participation.

Pr clicking into this thread

Or

i switched to an hsa plan this year. heaven forbid i have an emergency but at least now i can pay for my next pair of glasses with the hsa debit card.

Started full time glasses at age 8, tried hard contacts at age 13 (this may have been the only kind available, I'm almost as old as Aimless) but I never got used to them in a year of trying, so went back to glasses.

My prescription has not really changed for many years, so when my last pair got too scraped up I used the same prescription for an online company, yesglasses(dot)com, and it was only US$130 and that's with high refractivity lenses, and progressive bifocals.

I ordered a new pair of glasses online today (progressives, so I can read and see distance with the same pair). A little over $100 out of pocket, plus 15% off as a new customer and about an additional 30% in rewards back. So I think it came to $94, with tax and whatever, then $27 or so back in the near future. Not bad, imo.

I have keratoconus, where the cornea thins out in random places and loses its nice hemispherical shape to become more cone-shaped. I have a silicone ring in my right eye, wear hard lenses that grab the eye around the cornea and shove it back into shape, and had a treatment done where they make incisions in the cornea, drop in riboflavin and stimulate it with UV light to strengthen the cornea.

Fun fact: all eye surgeries were done with local anesthesia only. I was fully awake to watch them come at me with the knife. Didn't even strap my head down, just said "hold still."

― disco stabbing horror (lukas), Wednesday, August 12, 2026 11:03 AM (five days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Fist bump keratoconus fam 👊 this shit sucks so much

My opthalmologist never suggested the surgery, not sure why but it might be that I only have it really badly in one eye. Had glasses since I was about 10, got contacts around 16, got diagnosed with the cone at about 25 and lived with a glasses prescription after that where my right eye was basically useless.

I tried some experiments with contacts including one that was a hard center lens with a soft ring around it (those sucked) and a period of time wearing soft lenses with hard lenses on top of them (also sucked but less) before I gave up and stuck to glasses.

That changed last year when I got scleral lenses that are custom made ($800+) but my sight is far better than it has been since my early 20s (48 now). They are a little comical to put in and take out, each action requires a specific tool, one that looks like a little toilet plunger and the other that is a straight up suction cup to pop them out. Cleaning is pretty simple, just a soak in peroxide solution overnight, but it's also weird putting the them bc I have to fill them with saline as a buffer and put them in bent over so it doesn't spill. Worth it though!

Has anyone had issues with shield style sports glasses? I’ve tried and returned two different kinds of Oakley cycling glasses because my eyes couldn’t really focus right. Apparently the lens curve causes a “fishbowl” effect that subtly distorts light, and these two models are known for that. I’ve looked up another kind that are apparently better, but I don’t want to keep returning glasses because they feel weird in a way you don’t really sense when just trying them on casually.

They are a little comical to put in and take out, each action requires a specific tool, one that looks like a little toilet plunger and the other that is a straight up suction cup to pop them out.

WHOOOOOAH I've seen someone using that thing but I didn't know what it was!! Wild. It did look pretty comical! lol
I'm so happy for you that this has been a benefit for your sight after all these years. Sometimes the future is good.

My sight out of my right eye, uncorrected or with glasses, is basically like looking through frosted glass unless I put whatever I am focusing on about 4 inches from my face. Add to that extensive halos/tracers from any light source, especially at night. Part of what drove me to investigate the new lenses is how bad I was seeing when driving at night.