Many of us actually need some help with our vision but some choose not to wear glasses or contacts because of some of the things that they have hear about wearing them, such as the idea that wearing glasses might further weaken your eyesight.
It is time to try and separate fact from fiction and see whether any of the common myths have any truth about them. If you want an alternative to glasses or contacts, you could always take a look at laser eye surgery.
Glasses weaken your eyesight
There is a belief that the more frequently you wear spectacles, the worse your eyesight will become.
We mainly wear glasses for two distinct reasons; either you suffer from short-sightedness or long-sightedness. Glasses help to improve our ability to read, especially in low lighting and as we get older it is only natural that our eyesight is going to deteriorate anyway, so is this anything to do with wearing glasses?
There are not many clinical trials to prove or counter the observation that glasses may weaken your eyesight but anecdotal evidence would suggest that the lenses in our eyes deteriorate with age and therefore we become more dependent on aid like glasses, without there being any proof that they have weakened our eyesight any more than the aging process has.
Contact lenses can cause infections
Provided you follow a sensible care routine that includes always washing your hands thoroughly before handling your contact lenses, the risk of an eye infection is quite minimal.
Contact lenses can get stuck to your eye
Some people worry about the prospect of the contact lens getting stuck to their eye, but this is a myth and they cannot get stuck.
Contact lenses are easily removed using one of the methods recommended by your eye care practitioner.
There is an age limit to wearing contacts
There is a general perception that people over the age of 40 should wear glasses rather than contact lenses.
Our need for using reading glasses does increase as we get older but there is no plausible reason why you wouldn’t wear contacts instead, regardless of how old you are, so there is definitely no age limit.
Contact lenses increase the risk of short-sightedness in children
Studies involving children between 8 and 11 have demonstrated that there is no discernible difference or increase in cases of short-sightedness between those that wear contacts and children who wear glasses.
Contact lenses are not comfortable to wear
It is understandable that you might perceive contact lenses to be more uncomfortable to wear when compared to putting on a pair of glasses.
The majority of contact wearers say that wearing contact lenses is actually comfortable and sometimes feels like they are not wearing them at all, so most of us adapt without any issues.
Contacts are hard to look after
Once you have a regular maintenance regime in place, it should only take a few minutes a day to remove and clean your contact lenses and you can always get disposable ones if you don’t want the hassle of cleaning at all.
Glasses are only needed for certain tasks like driving
You might hear someone say that they only use their glasses when they are driving. If you need vision correction to be able to drive safely and with clarity, you almost certainly need to consider wearing glasses, wearing contact lenses or getting laser eye treatment so that you can enjoy good eyesight, not just when you are behind the wheel or reading a book.
Carl Robinson is an eyewear technician of many years. He likes to share the latest eyecare news and tips by posting online. You can read his articles on a number of blogs and websites.
