# Do you wear eyeglasses?



## Musicaterina (Apr 5, 2020)

Just because I'm curious if you do.

I normally wear eyeglasses becaus I'm moderately nearsighted and also very presbyopic for my age. Sometimes I wear contact lenses instead. 

Because of my presbyopia, I wear varifocals, and I have got special eyeglasses for playing the recorder and the viol and for working with the computer.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Yes, since I was 8 (almost 8x8 now). Since about 12 years also for reading and computer stuff.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

I didn't need any sort of glasses till I was 50. Then I had some distance glasses for driving and moved on to reading glasses about 5 years later. About three years ago I began to develop cataracts and even glasses eventually couldn't help. However, I've now had both my eyes operated on so the current situation is that I have good long-distance sight in both eyes but need glasses to read. 

I'm all right on the computer because Taggart fiddled with the text which is now a bit bigger so I can cope. 

Developing bad vision and then being virtually blind for a while after my first cataract operation has been quite traumatic. I now really treasure my sight. It's amazing how it affects your whole life and mood - you can't really escape from sight problems, can you?


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Wore glasses starting at about age 2 (I ran into a wall, which indicated the need). Wore them continuously until about five years ago, when I had my cataracts removed and replaced with corrective lenses. Now I only need glasses to read, or when I drive at night.


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## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

Only for reading


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I've got several pairs of drug store readers around the house. But if I'm not reading I don't need glasses.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

Wore coke-bottle glasses from age 3 or 4 to about 14, when I got my first contact lenses.

My prescription is SPH -12.0, Cyl +4.75. If you know anything about prescriptions, that's legally blind without my contacts. I wear hard contacts (not soft) because the steepness of my corneas works better with hard lenses, and they keep my eyes from getting worse. I wear them 16-18 hours/day 365 days/yr with hardly ever any problems.

I looked into laser eye surgery, and/or cadaver corneal transplants. My eyes are way outside the range where those can be done.

At about 40 I started having to use readers. Now I have two sets of reading glasses, one with a 24" focal range for working on my computer and another with about an 18" focal for reading. I can read or compute without 'em, but it causes eyestrain.

When driving at night I get star halos around any lights. I live with that.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I wear glasses but I have to take them off for reading, using the PC or for doing anything that requires close visual contact such as repairs, cleaning etc. In other words, I'm short-sighted.


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

Wow... no one's eyes are OK??

My eyesight is terrible; legally blind without corrective lenses by 16.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

I was SCUBA-certified at 16, just about the time masks with corrective lenses came out. They couldn't make one with my correction.

Couldn't wear glasses inside a mask.

Was afraid to wear contacts inside a mask because mask flooding was common.

Had to give up SCUBA  

These days I swim laps with my contacts in, but the swim goggles have gotten MUCH better over the past 50 years and I haven't had a flood event in, oh, forty years?


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist said:


> Wow... no one's eyes are OK??
> 
> My eyesight is terrible; legally blind without corrective lenses by 16.


I suppose it's because people who've experienced eye troubles tend to want to post about it - unless there's a strange connection between loving classical music and having eye problems?


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

I've worn contacts since I was in my mid-thirties.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

Off-subject but barely. I have found full-spectrum lighting, not just normal incandescent bulbs, make reading much less strainful.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

NoCoPilot said:


> When driving at night I get star halos around any lights. I live with that.


That's among the symptoms of cataracts.


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

I got a pair of prescription reading glasses in my late 40s, about eight years ago. Two years ago I got a new prescription for a stronger pair of reading glasses.

I use my first weaker pair of glasses for using the computer and reading during the day and my stronger pair for reading at night when the light is worse. In fact, I don't use my stronger pair of glasses much, only for reading books with small font. I can still use my weaker pair for most reading, including reading on the Kindle. 

I should probably get a pair of glasses for driving at night, so says the ophthalmologist, but since I don't own a car, I haven't bothered. The two or three times a year I do get a car to drive it's for an errand during the daylight hours.


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

Yes, I wear eyeglasses.
I am, so to speak, spectacular.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

I wear lens and glasses depending on the activity I am doing.


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## Chilham (Jun 18, 2020)

One pair for reading and computer work and another pair for distance - driving and television if it involves reading things like on quiz shows.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

I wonder how many pairs of reading glasses people own? Just one, and tote them about the house with you? Or two, to leave one in the bedroom (say) and carry the other pair on journeys etc.

I need at least two pairs - leave one by my chair in the lounge for reading and have another in my bag for going out.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Ummm... eight. Maybe I should adjust the weirdness setting in that poll.

One for the computer downstairs
One in the living room
One in the bedroom
One in the gallery
One in our apartment around the corner, where we relax once in a while (no internet!)
One in the bag with car papers (for restaurants e.g.)

These are older reading glasses, perfect for computer work and sudoku's. Since 2 years I need stronger reading glasses for books etc - I have 2 of these (one at home, one in the apartment).


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## Musicaterina (Apr 5, 2020)

When I wear my varifocals, I naturally can them also use for reading. But when I wear contact lenses, I need reading glasses in different lens strengthes for different activities which require a good near vision - be it reading, working with the computer or playing the viol or the the recorder or crocheting. So wearing these lenses is only really worth it for special occasions where mostly the only activity for near vision is reading a bit (for example a classical concert).

For playing the viol or the recorder I have, as I said, already special eyeglasses which are single vision glasses. And I have even special contact lenses for this activity, but I wear them only for musical performances with audience - be it in the family, at the christmas party of my employer or elsewhere.


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

I do´t wear eye glasses even if I have lots of relatives wearing glasses.


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

I don't need glasses. Last they were checked, my vision was good! Both of my parents have gotten to the point just recently that they are needing glasses. The surprise for me though was when my younger brother recently found out he needs glasses. My grandparents, aunts, several cousins, as well as second cousins, etc. also need them. Seems like most of my family needs them now!


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

Ingélou said:


> I wonder how many pairs of reading glasses people own?


About thirty. No I am not exaggerating.

I inherited my dad's collection, in addition to my own. He had everything from readers to stereo loupes.


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Started wearing reading glasses in my early 40s. Moved on to varifocals around 50. Old age sucks.


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

I was legitimately surprised to learn that my one uncle used to wear glasses. He had corrective surgery and doesn't need to wear them anymore.


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## Metairie Road (Apr 30, 2014)

Yes, trifocals.

Top lenses for long distance.
Middle lenses for middle distance (about 20ft).
Bottom lenses for reading and that snooty _down the nose_ look.

Didn't need glasses until I was in my 40's.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

Merl said:


> Old age sucks.


Yes. But as Grandma used to point out, "Still, it beats the alternative."


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

I've worn them since I was 4. For the first time, these days, I take them off when I go out to avoid them getting steamed up because of my mask. (Yes, I know, but even with my new KN95 masks, they'll steam up from time to time.) I do keep a pair in my pocket, as I can no longer read without them.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

For most of my life i had to wear glasses all the time, but about 5 years ago I had cataract surgery and now only wear them to drive, or at theater or out about town or hiking in the park where I need to see distance better.


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## Totenfeier (Mar 11, 2016)

I've got two pairs that are at least 2 years past the "Time for a new prescription" date. I also have a pair of prescription sunglasses for the car; I can see pretty well with them. I have a cataract happily developing in my left eye; driving at night, especially in rain, is like a mad carnival horror show, so I'm trying to cut back on the need for that. When I take off my glasses, all lights turn into brightly-colored doilies.


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## ToneDeaf&Senile (May 20, 2010)

My initial vision loss came about it what I suspect is an abnormal manner. (Correct me if wrong.) I was near the end of my military career at the time. My most recent eye exam had certified me 20/18. One morning, reading in bed, all of a sudden with no advanced warning, both eyes lost focus so that I could not read words on the page. (Far distance was okay, as I recall.) This lasted maybe five minutes. I was beginning to panic when POOF, my eyes returned to normal. Vision remained normal the rest of the day. I wrote the incident off as a freak anomally.

Next day, reading in bed, my eyes again lost focus at close distance. This time it was permanent. Thus began my glasses-wearing existance.

Distance vision didn't begin to decrease until years later, and then gradually. I was into my sixties before distance vision decreased enough for me to need a "glasses required" statement on my drivers license. Even now I could get by behind the while sans eyewear if I had to, except maybe in bumper-to-bumper big-city traffic and other tricky situations. (No, I'm not foolish enough to attempt driving without glasses.)


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## haydnguy (Oct 13, 2008)

Yes. The bane of my existence right now is my eyeglasses. I need to replace my eyeglasses that have lasted 10 years. I went to one of those "One Hour" places. (Get new glasses in one hour). I thought it was crazy but my wife thought it was ok. As a result, the frames I got were flimsy and my eye site no better. I have a new appointment with another eye doctor where I think I'll have a better result. In the meantime I can't read which is driving me nuts.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

haydnguy said:


> Yes. The bane of my existence right now is my eyeglasses. I need to replace my eyeglasses that have lasted 10 years. I went to one of those "One Hour" places. (Get new glasses in one hour). I thought it was crazy but my wife thought it was ok. As a result, the frames I got were flimsy and my eye site no better. I have a new appointment with another eye doctor where I think I'll have a better result.* In the meantime I can't read which is driving me nuts*.


That is unfortunate. Pharmacies often have a rack of reading glasses in various corrections. I wonder if that would help, else a magnifying glass?


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## progmatist (Apr 3, 2021)

I totally missed this thread. I must not have been wearing my glasses at the time.


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