If you’ve been told that you need to wear prescription lenses to see clearly, you’ll need to decide what form you want these to take. Unless your eyesight is very bad, you’ll almost certainly be given the option of glasses or contact lenses, but how do you know which is right for you?

Studies show that currently, around 75% of U.S. adults currently require some sort of vision correction. Of these, 64% wear glasses, while 11% choose contact lenses, which are either worn exclusively or interchanged with glasses. With so many people opting for glasses, you might think that they are the obvious choice for you, but there are pros and cons to both solutions. 

If you need help making the decision between glasses and contact lenses, here’s what you need to know about the pros and cons of both.

 

Advantages Of Glasses

There are a number of advantages associated with choosing glasses for prescription eyewear. These include:

–       Affordability. Glasses are generally slightly less expensive than contact lenses.

–       No recurring costs unless your prescription changes or they need maintenance.

–       No side effects.

–       Slight protection from irritants and injury.

–       Suitable for the majority of patients.

–       Versatility. Glasses can be used to hold a wide range of different lenses, including those with special coatings to protect your eyesight or enhance your vision.

 

Disadvantages Of Glasses

There are some limitations that are associated with the use of glasses though.

–       Appearance. Glasses can positively or negatively affect your appearance depending on the variety you choose.

–       Unsuitable for sports. Glasses aren’t safe and/or suitable to be worn for some activities such as swimming, baseball and football.

–       Fragility. Glasses can be easily damaged, bent, cracked or scratched.

–       Glasses can easily be left behind somewhere and lost.

–       Glasses can fog up, especially when you are wearing a mask.

 

Advantages Of Contact Lenses

Contact lenses may be less popular than glasses, but there are many reasons why some people choose them instead of or alongside glasses for their vision correction.

–       Discreet. Contact lenses sit on the surface of the eye and don’t affect your appearance. In fact, usually nobody can tell you are wearing them.  

–       Contact lenses also offer a greater and clearer field of vision since there are no frames in the way of your peripheral vision.

–       Contact lenses can be worn during many different sports and activities, helping patients to benefit from clear vision when they might otherwise struggle. This gives patients greater flexibility over their day to day lives.

–       Contact lenses have been shown to provide slightly better visual acuity than glasses, giving the wearer even clearer vision.  

 

Disadvantages Of Contact Lens

Despite the additional versatility that they offer over glasses, there are still a few things to consider when choosing contact lenses:

–       Cost. Contact lenses usually require the wearer to make a commitment to an ongoing financial arrangement and overall, they can be slightly more expensive than glasses (depending on which variety you choose).

–       Cleaning and maintenance. Unless you choose daily disposables, you will need to spend time cleaning and taking care of your contact lenses so that they are sterile and safe to be worn time after time.

–       Some people who wear contact lenses experience irritation and soreness, especially if they have dry eyes or eye allergies.

–       There are a variety of contact lenses for nearly all patients, but if you suffer from an eye condition like dry eye or keratoconus, you may need a specialist variety that is harder to wear and/or more expensive than generic contacts.

–       There are also some people who simply can’t tolerate contact lenses at all.

–       Contact lens use increases your risk of developing eye infections and subsequent damage.

If you would like more advice on how to choose between contact lenses and glasses, our friendly and experienced eye care experts at Heights Eye Studio would be happy to help. Please contact us at 832-975-7020 to schedule an appointment.