Glasses or Contact lenses? Such a dilemma! In reality, both are widely used and accepted methods for vision correction—which makes it a totally personal decision, one that you should arrive at based on factors such as your comfort, convenience, style and necessity. It’s also not uncommon for people to switch between contacts and glasses depending on the situation. So, what should you opt for? Here are some pros and cons of wearing spectacles and lenses. Read on before you make your decision.
Contact Lenses
Pros:
Based on Necessity
- Contacts are discrete and conform to the curvature of your eye, providing a wider field of view and cause less or no vision distortions.
Based on Convenience
- Contacts stay unaffected by weather conditions. Unlike glasses, there is no scope for fog formation in winters and your monsoons aren’t messy at all!
Based on Comfort
- Contacts are a hassle-free option for playing sports and indulging in other physical activities as they don’t inhibit your movements, unlike glasses.
Based on Style
- There is no need to spend hours matching your contacts with the color of your attire unless you’re trying out colored or special-effect lenses.
- You get to wear all the coolest sunglasses. Besides, wearing a face mask won’t cut-off your vision because of fogging. Eight tips to stop your glasses from fogging.
- You can go gung ho with eye makeup; or even change up or intensify your eye color with super hydrating and comfortably soft colored lenses.
Cons:
Based on Necessity
- You have to really commit to the care and recommended replacement protocol of your contacts to prevent eye infections. If after a long day at work, cleaning your lenses feels like a nuisance, you could opt for daily disposables.
Based on Convenience
- Contact lenses and the case used to store lenses can be the breeding ground for many potentially serious eye-infection causing microorganisms if you miss out on your daily cleaning routine.
- You cannot, even accidentally, afford to fall asleep with your contacts on. You may wake up with dry, gritty, red and irritated eyes.
Based on Comfort
- You take time to become adept at applying and removing lenses and it can seem cumbersome at first.
- People who work behind at a laptop for hours and wear contact lenses are likely to develop symptoms of computer vision syndrome. You should ideally invest in a pair of blue light filtering 0 power computer glasses as well.
- The amount of oxygen your eyes reaching your eyes will reduce if they are covered by contact lenses over it. However, some brands such as Aqualens have a high water content and oxygen permeability, thus ensuring your eyes stay comfortable for hours.
Eyeglasses
Pros:
Based on Necessity
- There is hardly any direct contact between your fingers and your eyes while putting on your spectacles. Therefore, it’s unlikely that you can catch an infection from grubby hands.
- Glasses don’t aggravate conditions such as dry eyes, sensitive eyes or gritty eyes which are sometimes triggered by contact lenses.
Based on Convenience
- The scope of keeping your current frame and only replacing the lenses when your prescription changes or if your break it, make spectacles an inexpensive choice for the long run.
- Glasses act as a protective shield against wind, dust, debris and even sunlight if you opt for photochromic lenses
Based on Comfort
Based on Style
- Many people see their glasses as an extension of their personality— more like a style-statement without which they can’t imagine their day.
Cons:
Based on Necessity
- Many people complain about blurry vision when they first start wearing glasses or change their prescriptions. This is mainly due to the distorted peripheral vision caused by the half-inch distance between your eyes and the glasses.
Based on Convenience
- Most specs-wearer will relate to their glasses fogging up during winter or when you walk into or out of an air-conditioned area. High humidity levels can make the experience even worse!
Based on Comfort
- Glasses can feel heavy on your nose and cause nose pad marks on the bridge of your nose. Sometimes the tip of the temples may also exert pressure behind your ears causing headaches and discomfort.
Based on Style
- Your facial features remain hidden behind your glasses and wearing eye-make-up feels pointless.
- People with a high power may find their thick lenses unappealing. In such cases, your eyes may look unnaturally magnified through your glasses.
Is There a Middle Ground?
Totally! You can use both as per your preference. In fact, almost everyone who uses contact lenses has a pair of spectacles for part of the day when they are working on a laptop or when they don’t have time to clean, rinse and wear their contacts, or simply when they find it an impossible task to wear their lenses without a mirror around. So keep your contacts for times when you want to dress up your eyes and occasions when you want all focus on your face and eyes, and wear glasses for times when you’re going to spend hours staring at a screen. Problem solved!
