14 ms·

I think it's funny how many people really don't want to just wear glasses. I love that I can completely change my look just by getting some new glasses, though

by slaymaker1907 2y ago

I think it's funny how many people really don't want to just wear glasses. I love that I can completely change my look just by getting some new glasses, though I'm admittedly fortunate to have a low rx such that I can get away without wearing them sometimes when I misplace them. Another random comment: I just love that his contacts apparently only fit because of ptosis from using weed.

bobbylarrybobby 2y ago
For me, glasses get smudged and fog up, slip down my nose, and are something to worry about during sports. Contacts “just work”.
- loeg 2y ago
  Glasses are also absurdly expensive for what they are (maybe this is a US thing). Contacts are also expensive, but you can sort of appreciate the manufacturing challenge.
  - fsckboy 2y ago
    >absurdly expensive for what they are (maybe this is a US thing) It's actually a European thing. Luxottica, an Italian company, has largely monopolized glasses worldwide. https://www.forbes.com/sites/anaswanson/2014/09/10/meet-the-four-eyed-eight-tentacled-monopoly-that-is-making-your-glasses-so-expensive/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/anaswanson/2014/09/10/meet-the-... from wikipedia: Luxottica retails its products through stores that it owns, predominantly LensCrafters, Sunglass Hut, Pearle Vision, Target Optical, and Glasses.com. It also owns EyeMed, one of the largest vision health insurance providers. In addition to licensing prescription and non-prescription sunglasses frames for many luxury and designer brands including Chanel, Prada, Giorgio Armani, Burberry, Versace, Dolce and Gabbana, Michael Kors, Coach, Miu Miu and Tory Burch,[8] the Italian conglomerate further outright owns and manufactures Ray-Ban, Persol, Oliver Peoples, and Oakley...In March 2018, the European Commission unconditionally approved the merger of Essilor and Luxottica.[14] On 1 October 2018, the new holding company EssilorLuxottica was born, resulting in combined market capitalization of approximately $70 billion.[15] The merger with Essilor additionally gave Luxottica control of Foster Grant and Costa Del Mar, sunglasses brands acquired by Essilor prior to the merger Now, I'm not an expert on European regulation, but I do get a lot of good information from Europeans here on HN, and I'd guess that the EC approved the merger because the company respects the GDPR
    - mportela 2y ago
      Freakonomics did a very good deep dive into this world recently: https://freakonomics.com/podcast/why-do-your-eyeglasses-cost-1000/ https://freakonomics.com/podcast/why-do-your-eyeglasses-cost...
  - slaymaker1907 2y ago
    That's why I order mine online from Zenni. I've heard reports of some quality control before and I've had one pair come that was a bit off, but I've still saved an ridiculous amount of money as someone who loses glasses constantly. I just ordered a pair that was ~$50 and a lot of that was just expedited shipping. I made no attempt to find the cheapest frames/lenses either like a lot of the ads for normal discount glasses show. Oh, and that's WITHOUT insurance. I have no idea why they're so expensive at most vendors. It shouldn't be cheaper for me to order glasses without insurance. That said, the cost breakdown I saw from Zenni definitely showed that the major cost was for the lenses and given that they seem to be the cheapest vendor, I suspect they're actually telling the truth. Lenses seem to be pretty complex as well to manufacture, even for simple prescriptions.
    - callalex 2y ago
      They are expensive because they are run by the Luxottica cartel.
    - loeg 2y ago
      My impression of Zenni / EyeBuyDirect is also not great. Sure, they are inexpensive, but they are also flimsy. When I tried them, the pairs I got caused pretty bad discomfort, too.
  - tomcam 2y ago
    My wife used to make me get the “best” glasses from boutique stores because average places like LensCrafters never suited me. Average price from boutiques about $1300 in the 2010s. I have -4.50 vision and need bifocals. Tried Zenni about 12 years ago. Best lenses ever by far. Also the best style for me—$30/pair. My kid’s glasses are $9/pair but would be $7 without custom engraving.
  - vladvasiliu 2y ago
    They’re pretty expensive here in France, too, and the famous “free healthcare” only covers a small fraction of the cost. The rest is out of pocket if you don’t carry some other form of insurance, usually through your employer.
simlevesque 2y ago
> I think it's funny how many people really don't want to just wear glasses. In many situations they're not practical. Sports and sex to name a few.
- JodieBenitez 2y ago
  Agree about sports, or any outdoor activity, gardening, lumberjacking, and more. For sex I kinda like the blurred vision though.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- bigstrat2003 2y ago
  I wear glasses just fine during sex.
  - simlevesque 2y ago
    You can. But it's not as great to put your face in a pair of boobs with glasses. Glasses always create a distance between your face and the world.
    - ix101 2y ago
      Next day at work.. "hey Joe why are you squinting the whole time?" "Ah that... Well, thing is my glasses are so smudged, but I don't wanna forget how they got that way ;)" "Ah! Say no more."
  - swader999 2y ago
    It's much safer with some sort of eye protection.
  - _qbxi 2y ago
    They don't get smudged when giving oral?
- 2y ago
saghm 2y ago
I have an extremely strong prescription (and have been wearing bifocals since I was 16), so I basically need to wear them at all times other than in the shower and in bed. I really don't like not being able to see things without them if I want to look at something while in bed (or worse, when I accidentally drop them when trying to grab them after I wake up and then can't find them easily due to not being able to see without them), but contacts seem like they'd just make that worse by increasing the effort needed to put them on. The eye doctor I saw from when I was a kid until college apparently had laser surgery and suggested that I should get it whenever my vision stopped getting worse (which happened throughout my childhood but would be expected to stabilize in adulthood). For me, the motivation wouldn't be cosmetic, but quality of life; being able to see without an external tool is just inherently easier.
- astura 2y ago
  >I really don't like not being able to see things without them if I want to look at something while in bed (or worse, when I accidentally drop them when trying to grab them after I wake up and then can't find them easily due to not being able to see without them) I wear my glasses to bed, while sleeping. Avoids this issue entirely. Highly recommend. It's not uncomfortable and they don't fall off. I also wear them during sports (including gymnastics when I was younger) & during sex. It's not really that big of a deal if you are really used to wearing them. I've been wearing glasses since before I could talk. I'm guessing a lot of people just don't get used to them.
  - Obscurity4340 2y ago
    How? Can't you only really sleep on your back that way?
    - astura 2y ago
      No, I sleep on my stomach. How? Um, just lay down without taking them off? Idk what else to say?
      - 2y ago
bigstrat2003 2y ago
I consider glasses to be purely functional, not a matter of style. In fact I think glasses are ugly. The only reason I don't use contacts is because I would never be able to suppress my blink reflex to get them in.
mrob 2y ago
If you don't need astigmatism correction, spherical contact lenses give much better image quality than glasses. You don't get the image minification/magnification that you get with glasses, and the off-axis optical aberrations are much reduced because the lens moves with your eyeball, meaning it's always correctly aligned. Astigmatism correction in contact lenses sacrifices some image quality (sharpness is reduced), but it might still be better than glasses depending on how much correction is needed. It's possible to combine spherical contact lenses with cylindrical glasses, which might give the best overall image quality depending on the exact correction needed. Related to this, different glasses lens materials cause different levels of chromatic aberration, measured by Abbe number. The cheapest (PADC, e.g. CR-39) is one of the best you can get.
- vr46 2y ago
  This is interesting as I have been a photographer for decades as well as playing various sports, and have had endless fantastic discussions with my opt over the years about the various merits of different lenses and glasses but this has never come up. I wore only contacts from December 1992 to maybe a few years ago, when presbyopia made things impossible, and I have been lamenting - truly lamenting - the state of things with glasses. I procured some Natural Vue lenses for multifocal vision last month, as I had previously tried them with decent results, but the outcome is not good at all. My near vision is rubbish. I wish I could wear contacts again, my QoL has taken such a massive hit. I’m -10 in specs with astigmatism.
  - jdietrich 2y ago
    Have you tried monovision contacts? It's not for everyone, but works really well for a lot of people. We've also now got two FDA-approved medicines for presbyopia, with at least two more pending applications. https://www.vuity.com/ https://www.vuity.com/ https://www.orasis-pharma.com/ https://www.orasis-pharma.com/ https://ir.lenz-tx.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/18/lenz-therapeutics-announces-submission-of-new-drug-application-to-u-s-food-and-drug-administration-for-lnz100-for-the-treatment-of-presbyopia https://ir.lenz-tx.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/18/... https://www.ocuphire.com/product-pipeline/phentolamine https://www.ocuphire.com/product-pipeline/phentolamine
HumblyTossed 2y ago
>I think it's funny how many people really don't want to just wear glasses. I paid for college working in the glasses business. Glasses are just not comfortable to wear all day. You can have them adjusted up the wazoo, but after a few hours, they're just annoying. Then the lenses are easily smudged. Or they're easy to bump. The reasons are long.
- Scoundreller 2y ago
  For me, it's the 100% unobstructed field of vision with contacts. Sometimes I wear my glasses anyway to give my eyes a break but it's otherwise morning to night contacts.
- akira2501 2y ago
  Glasses are fine to wear all day. People often select their eyewear based upon style. Which is fine, but to avoid the problems you're describing, you really should get several pairs then to avoid the fatigue those types of frames often produce. Meanwhile you just get a pair of glasses that are built for comfort but don't look particularly good and they'll sit on your face comfortably all day. I honestly don't even think about it. I tried but cannot remember the last time I have. Three or four times a year I end up laying down in bed, roll over, and realize I forgot to take my glasses off. Either I'm super odd or it's possible to get glasses and not have these problems.
- mauvehaus 2y ago
  Sorry, what? I've been wearing glasses for three decades and the only time they feel uncomfortable is when I'm also wearing both over-ear hearing protection and over-glasses safety specs. I've resolved that by getting a pair of prescription safety specs. Oh yeah, and when the nosepads are brand new and sticky. Otherwise I've never had a problem. I'm at -3 or thereabouts with a cylindrical on both eyes, if that matters.
tomcam 2y ago
I think it's funny how many people really don't want to just wear glasses. People who are active, sports-oriented, live in places with bad weather, or who work outside may view things differently
lysace 2y ago
Glasses have a vastly inferior field of view (FOV) compared to soft contacts. That's why I wear the latter. (Like 120 degrees vs 170, or something along the lines of that.)
maxerickson 2y ago
I can manage without correction but still remember the first time I walked in the rain after switching from glasses to contacts, 20 some years ago. I'd only put up with the glasses for a little while at that point. Nowadays I don't wear a contact in my better eye, so that I can focus to read, just one in the worse eye for distance vision.
dangsux 2y ago
[dead]
anthomtb 2y ago
> many people really don't want to just wear glasses > I can get away without wearing them There's a fallacy of some sort here but I do not know enough rhetoric to determine which one.
raincole 2y ago
> I can get away without wearing them Yes, this sentence. Right here. This is why you can't get why many people really don't want to just wear glasses.
seer 2y ago
Waring contacts opened me up to soo many activities that I just couldn’t do as a child (or would be far too uncomfortable) - swimming, social dancing (slasa), contact sports (taekwondo) or most sports for that matter. Eventually I did LASIK because of an eye infection scare though, figured it was better to take the risk once and fix your eyesight, than go about life constantly at risk of getting blind. But it was never a _go back to glasses_ situation, I couldn’t even imagine my life without being able to do all the activities I enjoyed doing. LASIK was soo cool and transformative that I recommend it to anyone now, and honestly the operation itself was a fun adventure in and off itself - even blogged about it at the time https://medium.com/@ivankerin/a-humble-mans-account-of-the-lasik-procedure-50c876de41d8 https://medium.com/@ivankerin/a-humble-mans-account-of-the-l...
prmoustache 2y ago
I think it depends a lot on your myopia level. For instance I have low level so my face is looking normally behind my glasses. In my partner's case however it is very different. She needs very high level of corrections which means that her prescription glasses lenses are still super thick despite the technology advancements: 1. she is limited by the kind of frames she can wear because of weight. 2. her face look way different with or without glasses, like she is behind a magnifier so she doesn't like it.

bobbylarrybobby 2y ago

For me, glasses get smudged and fog up, slip down my nose, and are something to worry about during sports. Contacts “just work”.

loeg 2y ago
Glasses are also absurdly expensive for what they are (maybe this is a US thing). Contacts are also expensive, but you can sort of appreciate the manufacturing challenge.
- fsckboy 2y ago
  >absurdly expensive for what they are (maybe this is a US thing) It's actually a European thing. Luxottica, an Italian company, has largely monopolized glasses worldwide. https://www.forbes.com/sites/anaswanson/2014/09/10/meet-the-four-eyed-eight-tentacled-monopoly-that-is-making-your-glasses-so-expensive/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/anaswanson/2014/09/10/meet-the-... from wikipedia: Luxottica retails its products through stores that it owns, predominantly LensCrafters, Sunglass Hut, Pearle Vision, Target Optical, and Glasses.com. It also owns EyeMed, one of the largest vision health insurance providers. In addition to licensing prescription and non-prescription sunglasses frames for many luxury and designer brands including Chanel, Prada, Giorgio Armani, Burberry, Versace, Dolce and Gabbana, Michael Kors, Coach, Miu Miu and Tory Burch,[8] the Italian conglomerate further outright owns and manufactures Ray-Ban, Persol, Oliver Peoples, and Oakley...In March 2018, the European Commission unconditionally approved the merger of Essilor and Luxottica.[14] On 1 October 2018, the new holding company EssilorLuxottica was born, resulting in combined market capitalization of approximately $70 billion.[15] The merger with Essilor additionally gave Luxottica control of Foster Grant and Costa Del Mar, sunglasses brands acquired by Essilor prior to the merger Now, I'm not an expert on European regulation, but I do get a lot of good information from Europeans here on HN, and I'd guess that the EC approved the merger because the company respects the GDPR
  - mportela 2y ago
    Freakonomics did a very good deep dive into this world recently: https://freakonomics.com/podcast/why-do-your-eyeglasses-cost-1000/ https://freakonomics.com/podcast/why-do-your-eyeglasses-cost...
- slaymaker1907 2y ago
  That's why I order mine online from Zenni. I've heard reports of some quality control before and I've had one pair come that was a bit off, but I've still saved an ridiculous amount of money as someone who loses glasses constantly. I just ordered a pair that was ~$50 and a lot of that was just expedited shipping. I made no attempt to find the cheapest frames/lenses either like a lot of the ads for normal discount glasses show. Oh, and that's WITHOUT insurance. I have no idea why they're so expensive at most vendors. It shouldn't be cheaper for me to order glasses without insurance. That said, the cost breakdown I saw from Zenni definitely showed that the major cost was for the lenses and given that they seem to be the cheapest vendor, I suspect they're actually telling the truth. Lenses seem to be pretty complex as well to manufacture, even for simple prescriptions.
  - callalex 2y ago
    They are expensive because they are run by the Luxottica cartel.
  - loeg 2y ago
    My impression of Zenni / EyeBuyDirect is also not great. Sure, they are inexpensive, but they are also flimsy. When I tried them, the pairs I got caused pretty bad discomfort, too.
- tomcam 2y ago
  My wife used to make me get the “best” glasses from boutique stores because average places like LensCrafters never suited me. Average price from boutiques about $1300 in the 2010s. I have -4.50 vision and need bifocals. Tried Zenni about 12 years ago. Best lenses ever by far. Also the best style for me—$30/pair. My kid’s glasses are $9/pair but would be $7 without custom engraving.
- vladvasiliu 2y ago
  They’re pretty expensive here in France, too, and the famous “free healthcare” only covers a small fraction of the cost. The rest is out of pocket if you don’t carry some other form of insurance, usually through your employer.

simlevesque 2y ago

> I think it's funny how many people really don't want to just wear glasses. In many situations they're not practical. Sports and sex to name a few.

JodieBenitez 2y ago
Agree about sports, or any outdoor activity, gardening, lumberjacking, and more. For sex I kinda like the blurred vision though.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
bigstrat2003 2y ago
I wear glasses just fine during sex.
- simlevesque 2y ago
  You can. But it's not as great to put your face in a pair of boobs with glasses. Glasses always create a distance between your face and the world.
  - ix101 2y ago
    Next day at work.. "hey Joe why are you squinting the whole time?" "Ah that... Well, thing is my glasses are so smudged, but I don't wanna forget how they got that way ;)" "Ah! Say no more."
- swader999 2y ago
  It's much safer with some sort of eye protection.
- _qbxi 2y ago
  They don't get smudged when giving oral?
2y ago

saghm 2y ago

I have an extremely strong prescription (and have been wearing bifocals since I was 16), so I basically need to wear them at all times other than in the shower and in bed. I really don't like not being able to see things without them if I want to look at something while in bed (or worse, when I accidentally drop them when trying to grab them after I wake up and then can't find them easily due to not being able to see without them), but contacts seem like they'd just make that worse by increasing the effort needed to put them on. The eye doctor I saw from when I was a kid until college apparently had laser surgery and suggested that I should get it whenever my vision stopped getting worse (which happened throughout my childhood but would be expected to stabilize in adulthood). For me, the motivation wouldn't be cosmetic, but quality of life; being able to see without an external tool is just inherently easier.

astura 2y ago
>I really don't like not being able to see things without them if I want to look at something while in bed (or worse, when I accidentally drop them when trying to grab them after I wake up and then can't find them easily due to not being able to see without them) I wear my glasses to bed, while sleeping. Avoids this issue entirely. Highly recommend. It's not uncomfortable and they don't fall off. I also wear them during sports (including gymnastics when I was younger) & during sex. It's not really that big of a deal if you are really used to wearing them. I've been wearing glasses since before I could talk. I'm guessing a lot of people just don't get used to them.
- Obscurity4340 2y ago
  How? Can't you only really sleep on your back that way?
  - astura 2y ago
    No, I sleep on my stomach. How? Um, just lay down without taking them off? Idk what else to say?
    - 2y ago

bigstrat2003 2y ago

I consider glasses to be purely functional, not a matter of style. In fact I think glasses are ugly. The only reason I don't use contacts is because I would never be able to suppress my blink reflex to get them in.

mrob 2y ago

If you don't need astigmatism correction, spherical contact lenses give much better image quality than glasses. You don't get the image minification/magnification that you get with glasses, and the off-axis optical aberrations are much reduced because the lens moves with your eyeball, meaning it's always correctly aligned. Astigmatism correction in contact lenses sacrifices some image quality (sharpness is reduced), but it might still be better than glasses depending on how much correction is needed. It's possible to combine spherical contact lenses with cylindrical glasses, which might give the best overall image quality depending on the exact correction needed. Related to this, different glasses lens materials cause different levels of chromatic aberration, measured by Abbe number. The cheapest (PADC, e.g. CR-39) is one of the best you can get.

vr46 2y ago
This is interesting as I have been a photographer for decades as well as playing various sports, and have had endless fantastic discussions with my opt over the years about the various merits of different lenses and glasses but this has never come up. I wore only contacts from December 1992 to maybe a few years ago, when presbyopia made things impossible, and I have been lamenting - truly lamenting - the state of things with glasses. I procured some Natural Vue lenses for multifocal vision last month, as I had previously tried them with decent results, but the outcome is not good at all. My near vision is rubbish. I wish I could wear contacts again, my QoL has taken such a massive hit. I’m -10 in specs with astigmatism.
- jdietrich 2y ago
  Have you tried monovision contacts? It's not for everyone, but works really well for a lot of people. We've also now got two FDA-approved medicines for presbyopia, with at least two more pending applications. https://www.vuity.com/ https://www.vuity.com/ https://www.orasis-pharma.com/ https://www.orasis-pharma.com/ https://ir.lenz-tx.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/18/lenz-therapeutics-announces-submission-of-new-drug-application-to-u-s-food-and-drug-administration-for-lnz100-for-the-treatment-of-presbyopia https://ir.lenz-tx.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/18/... https://www.ocuphire.com/product-pipeline/phentolamine https://www.ocuphire.com/product-pipeline/phentolamine

HumblyTossed 2y ago

>I think it's funny how many people really don't want to just wear glasses. I paid for college working in the glasses business. Glasses are just not comfortable to wear all day. You can have them adjusted up the wazoo, but after a few hours, they're just annoying. Then the lenses are easily smudged. Or they're easy to bump. The reasons are long.

Scoundreller 2y ago
For me, it's the 100% unobstructed field of vision with contacts. Sometimes I wear my glasses anyway to give my eyes a break but it's otherwise morning to night contacts.
akira2501 2y ago
Glasses are fine to wear all day. People often select their eyewear based upon style. Which is fine, but to avoid the problems you're describing, you really should get several pairs then to avoid the fatigue those types of frames often produce. Meanwhile you just get a pair of glasses that are built for comfort but don't look particularly good and they'll sit on your face comfortably all day. I honestly don't even think about it. I tried but cannot remember the last time I have. Three or four times a year I end up laying down in bed, roll over, and realize I forgot to take my glasses off. Either I'm super odd or it's possible to get glasses and not have these problems.
mauvehaus 2y ago
Sorry, what? I've been wearing glasses for three decades and the only time they feel uncomfortable is when I'm also wearing both over-ear hearing protection and over-glasses safety specs. I've resolved that by getting a pair of prescription safety specs. Oh yeah, and when the nosepads are brand new and sticky. Otherwise I've never had a problem. I'm at -3 or thereabouts with a cylindrical on both eyes, if that matters.

tomcam 2y ago

I think it's funny how many people really don't want to just wear glasses. People who are active, sports-oriented, live in places with bad weather, or who work outside may view things differently

lysace 2y ago

Glasses have a vastly inferior field of view (FOV) compared to soft contacts. That's why I wear the latter. (Like 120 degrees vs 170, or something along the lines of that.)

maxerickson 2y ago

I can manage without correction but still remember the first time I walked in the rain after switching from glasses to contacts, 20 some years ago. I'd only put up with the glasses for a little while at that point. Nowadays I don't wear a contact in my better eye, so that I can focus to read, just one in the worse eye for distance vision.

dangsux 2y ago

[dead]

anthomtb 2y ago

> many people really don't want to just wear glasses > I can get away without wearing them There's a fallacy of some sort here but I do not know enough rhetoric to determine which one.

raincole 2y ago

> I can get away without wearing them Yes, this sentence. Right here. This is why you can't get why many people really don't want to just wear glasses.

seer 2y ago

Waring contacts opened me up to soo many activities that I just couldn’t do as a child (or would be far too uncomfortable) - swimming, social dancing (slasa), contact sports (taekwondo) or most sports for that matter. Eventually I did LASIK because of an eye infection scare though, figured it was better to take the risk once and fix your eyesight, than go about life constantly at risk of getting blind. But it was never a _go back to glasses_ situation, I couldn’t even imagine my life without being able to do all the activities I enjoyed doing. LASIK was soo cool and transformative that I recommend it to anyone now, and honestly the operation itself was a fun adventure in and off itself - even blogged about it at the time https://medium.com/@ivankerin/a-humble-mans-account-of-the-lasik-procedure-50c876de41d8 https://medium.com/@ivankerin/a-humble-mans-account-of-the-l...

prmoustache 2y ago

I think it depends a lot on your myopia level. For instance I have low level so my face is looking normally behind my glasses. In my partner's case however it is very different. She needs very high level of corrections which means that her prescription glasses lenses are still super thick despite the technology advancements: 1. she is limited by the kind of frames she can wear because of weight. 2. her face look way different with or without glasses, like she is behind a magnifier so she doesn't like it.