What’s Better: Contact Lenses or Glasses

People that have vision problems often have to answer the question of what to choose: glasses or contact lenses? Or buy both?

5-Minute Crafts decided to find out which means of vision correction is better.

❗ This article is for informative purposes only and can’t replace consultations of experts.

Glasses

Pros:

• When wearing glasses, you don’t need to touch your eyes which lowers the chances or irritating them or getting an eye infection.
• Glasses can protect the eyes from dust and small particles that can get in with the wind.
• People with sensitive eyes can use glasses.
• Glasses don’t require any special care. They are easier to put on and wear.
• Glasses can be used for a much longer time, which makes them way less expensive than contact lenses.
• Glasses are great for people of any age, even children.
• If you choose the right frame, you can tweak your appearance and look more stylish.
• Some types of lenses for glasses may have a special coating which protects the eyes from UV-light from phone screens, laptops, and other devices.

Cons:

• The lenses of glasses are at a certain distance from the eyes, so they distort peripheral vision a bit.
• In some cases, when the vision is very far from normal, thick lenses can distort the proportions of the eyes making them too big or too small.
• Glasses may be uncomfortable to wear in some weather conditions, such as snow or rain. Glasses also get foggy in cold weather.
• Glasses are not very comfortable to wear when doing sports or any other physical activity.
• A bad frame may have pressure on the nose or ears, which leads to a discomfort.

Contact lenses

Pros:

• Contact lenses have exactly the same curvature as the eyes, and, unlike glasses, don’t distort vision in any way.
• Contact lenses are great for doing sports.
• Contact lenses don’t get foggy in bad weather, there’s no need to clean them during rain or snow.
• There are colored contact lenses that allow you to change the color of your eyes.

Cons:

• Contact lenses need better care, including cleaning and storing them. If you don’t clean them well enough, you might get an eye infection.
• Contact lenses reduce the amount of oxygen the eye gets which might lead to a dry eye syndrome.
• Even though the prices of contact lenses vary quite a lot, wearing lenses is much more expensive than glasses in the long run.
• If you are not careful enough, it’s easy to lose or damage a soft contact lens.
• In order to get used to contact lenses, you need more time. Some people might have discomfort when putting in and taking out the lenses.

Which is better

The people that have been wearing glasses for many years might have trouble switching to contact lenses. Both glasses and contact lenses have their advantages and disadvantages.

But bear in mind that if you wear lenses regularly, you might need glasses just in case — for example, if you need to stop wearing lenses for some time due to an infection or eye irritation.