Our school did annual eye exams although I’m not sure at what age/grade they started. I do remember 6th grade. I was told I was near-sighted and needed glasses. Horrors! I felt ugly enough with buck teeth and dark natural circles under my eyes. But when I got them, I suddenly realized there was a clock on the wall in the front of the classroom. I’d never noticed it before. That meant I could sit in the back of the room instead of the front row and my shy self liked that.
They made this mistake of telling me I only needed them part-time. That meant by junior high, I rarely wore them. I’m not sure when I started wearing them full-time. I don’t have many photos of me during my early 20s – most were of me and my kids and I made albums of those photos for them when they left home.
I do know I was wearing them all the time by my late 20s. But I also managed to eke out enough money from the budget to try soft contacts for the first time. I was living in Iowa and the girl I was working with had contacts. When I got home that night and went to take them out, I couldn’t find one. I panicked and called my friend who talked me through finding it up under my lid. A common occurrence.
I loved the simple things, like being able to see my hair being cut. Without contacts, I would have to put on my glasses before I could see it. But by my late 30s, a problem arrived. I wore my glasses on the weekends to give my eyes a rest. I did the same in the evenings. But I still constantly had red eyes. I made an appointment with an optometrist and found out I had extremely dry eyes. I had to return to glasses full-time. My husband at the time told me that was good because he preferred me with glasses. Go figure!
All through my 40s and 50s, I had to get new glasses every year. I had moved into progressive lenses, not inexpensive. But my vision kept changing and new glasses were needed.
One aggravation was sunglasses. Prescription sunglasses were very pricey but I did get them one year when there was a special promotion. But I found having to swap them out all the time was a pain. Then they came out with clip-ons. Yay! Lightweight and cheap – that worked well for me. I still have a stash of them in different sizes.
Of course with age comes cataracts. I was in my mid-40s when they started, tiny and not at all bothersome. By my mid-60s, it was time to get them taken care of. I was happy with the way things were. As I got older, my vision changed and I could read and work on the computer without glasses (thank you far-sightedness for helping out). I only needed my glasses for distance.
I had several options for cataract surgery that could correct both my astigmatism (I call it ghosting – everything has a slight shadow) and my vision. But the only method covered fully by Medicare was single vision – distance. Sigh…
So now my distance vision is excellent (although I still have astigmatism), but anything closer than six feet is blurry (and the closer they are, the blurrier they are). I’ve opted for reading glasses. I have dozens in two strengths. I have backups for my favorites. I’ve tried the multi-focal and those work okay and are good in the sunglass versions.
Do you or have you ever worn glasses? Like? Love? Hate?
Never wore glasses, except for a few years of reading glasses in my 50’s and 60’s. I got prescribed glasses in 2009 or 10 for 1 eye being far sighted and 1 eye near sighted. I could never adjust to the progressive lenses and stopped wearing them. Last eye exam was told had early macular degeneration and small cataracts. Not bad enough to go through the surgery for correction. I currently read without glasses (except for very small print) At age 80 i don’t think I will need to wear glasses again in my lifetime.
Wow, I know some people have gotten contacts to make one eye near and one eye far. That would make me dizzy. I’m with you, at almost 76 reading glasses should be all I need.
I have worn glasses since I was 17 years old. My first pair of glasses were bifocals, and I was told a couple years later than wearing bifocals had actually harmed my eyesight. Alas, I have worn bifocals since. (I can’t do progressives-they make me sick.) I have to have two different pairs – driving/reading and computer/reading. No money left for sunglasses. I’m currently looking at lenses for two new pair. I’m hoping to be able to get sunglasses clip-on for my driving glasses.
As you’ve seen in my many photos, I wear the reading glasses the most and they are perched on my nose. I’ve recently added a beaded chain so I can easily drop them off.
Like you, I tried contacts and every day was drama. So, I went to glasses. The first year or so, they would rest on top of my head because I hated wearing them all the time.
Now, I have progressives, no line bi-focals and transition lenses. I couldn’t do without the transitions, living in sunny New Mexico.
I’m also very fortunate, that being a disabled vet, I get my glasses free. Having to get stronger upgrades every year makes this service very needed.
You are so lucky to get yours paid for. The last progressives I bought (non-transition) cost almost $500 and that was at Walmart. Stu just got single vision glasses at Walmart and they were $200. Crazy expensive, glad he doesn’t need the progressives.