All the better to see you with | Pad Patter 13 Nov

Yes, I wear glasses. Quite an interesting background for me.

As a child I was cross-eyed so got glasses when I was 2.5 years old. Wore them for 2.5 years. The cross-eye was corrected and I had 20/20 vision. At the age of 19 I started noticing some minor issues and it was determined that I needed glasses to wear in specific situations. Mostly driving and at movie theaters. I was in college at the time and also had issues seeing anything written on the blackboard at the front of the room (back in the dark ages you know...). By the time I was in my mid-30's I was wearing them all the time, eventually moving into bifocals.

Now I'm at the age where the cataracts are something I have to look out for. I was told several years ago that I had cataracts but because they could still get me to 20/20 vision with glasses, there was no need to rush into surgery. I should have had my annual appointment in May but have put it off. I'm not having any issues but do plan to go in after the first of the year.

I can see without glasses but can't read anything without them. So I could actually watch TV without them as long as I don't have to read something really small scrolling on the screen.

 

Oh wow - sounds like my granddaughter! We were so surprised when we found out how bad her eyes were. She said she thought it was normal. I've talked to so many people who had this same experience - they thought what they were seeing was "normal". I'm lucky - I've never needed glasses until I got "older".

 

I just had an eye exam Monday and I'm awaiting delivery of my first pair of glasses! I just need them for seeing far away better, like road signs. I'd noticed this gradual change for a couple of years, but it hasn't been a problem. However, last month I started delivering packages for the USPS and hopefully these glasses will make seeing addresses easier. They won't help at the houses where people don't bother to make their addresses visible though! There have been a few where the only way I could guess it was the correct house was based on the addresses I could see at the houses next door!

 

I’ve needed glasses since 6th grade. My mother broke down and took me two years later and I got my first set of glasses. It’s so true that we think our eyesight is how everyone sees the world. I couldn’t believe all the detail in everything. It was a total game-changer.
I tried contacts but my eyes are too sensitive and I just couldn’t wear them. Now the glasses help hide those dark hereditary bags under my eyes.
The worst thing is when I put my glasses in a place other than their regular place because I can’t see to find them.

 

Funny story - I got multi-focals* in 2012 and then I wore them and got my hair cut. Silly hairdresser gave me a very short (funky fifties haircut) before I was fifty so I stopped wearing them. ~because that's mature.
My sunglasses have a script in them for distance and I wear those for driving.
I keep my glasses* near the tv for when I need to read small print. Why do they make phone texts part of series and movie narrative now? Thankfully I don't need glasses to read.
Otherwise I make my eyes work harder.

 

I’ve worn glasses since I was about 2. I should wear them for everything but don’t which is naughty of me....they just aren’t super comfortable if I’m lying in bed so if I’m only on my iPad just browsing FB or the Internet I don’t always wear them.

 

I was in my early teens when I got glasses. We went to a pantomime and I asked my dad what time it was. He told me to look at the clock on the wall. My response was what clock? When I got my first pair of glasses the world suddenly looked amazing. We discussed it together, and my brother commented that he couldn't see some things I was describing, so back to the options for glasses for him.

Now I'm a 2 pairs person, as I can't read or use the computer in those long distance glasses anymore and can't see them properly without either. I have one pair for long distance, and an "office pair" for shorter distances. It enables me to see clearly at short distances, and reasonably well upto 4m, so I can scrap or paint or sew or cook etc and still see the kids at the other end of the room etc. Normal varifocals are not suitable for me - would mean I'd have to keep moving my head up and down whist painting on an easel or painting scenery as the close distance part of the lens is at the bottom.

umm... maybe I need to scrap this story one day soon ....

 

I was born with terrible eyesight, so I got glass early on... maybe 3-4 years old? I had one lazy eye (still do) and also astigmatism. We had zero money growing up and I was a clutz so I was constantly breaking my glasses and had to wear them superglued or duct taped back together. I was in high fashion! I started wearing contact when I was in 8th grade and wore those for over 20 years, but then my eyes started to get really angry about the contacts. I finally had lasik after I had my 2nd baby and went without glasses or contacts for years, until I started needing glasses as I aged... So now I'm full circle wearing glasses again.

 

I had a dr. tell me that I needed glasses when I was a teenager, but went to a different optometrist a year later and he said there was no reason in the world why I should be wearing glasses lol. I do keep readers handy at all times now (old age) for things like medicine bottles and small labels.

 

I've worn glasses since I was one years old. I have a lazy eye and my eyes don't focus together. My right eye is dominant so it sees 2/3 of my view and my left peripheral vision picks up the rest. It is hard to get a correct prescription for my bifocals. My eyes are changing and I go in December for a new one and am hoping for better vision. The most frustrating part is not being able to read my watch in the middle of the night. lol

 

I understand that! I don't keep my glasses in the bedroom so if my phone goes off with a text I can't tell who it is from. I actually have to get out of bed, go to another room to read it. Since my phone is set to DND and only those on my contact list ring through, I know that it is someone I need to pay attention to.

I got an alarm clock with large numbers several years ago so that I could see what time it is if I woke up in the middle of the night.

 

I was about 15 when I got my first pair. Kept taking them of though, I really hated them. But at about 18 I had to admit defeat , and wear them all the time.
A friend of mine once said these wise words; take time to choose your glasses, they are part of your face, it is not a pimple that bursts and goes away, it is your face.... She was right you have to feel good wearing them.
After juggling 2 pairs of glasses in my 40's early 50's when it became struggling with 3 pairs because I also needed special computer glasses, I caved and got Varifocals ... Best invention ever... " @Angela Toucan you can both paint, sew and knit, read a pattern etc, without moving your head up and down. It takes about 2 days to get used to moving your eyes a different way, then you are all set.

 

I got glasses in 5th grade, and within a year I was wearing them all the time. (And my poor kids have inherited my eyes--one had glasses by kindergarten and the other two around 5th grade.) My prescription is pretty strong, so when I take them off I can't see anything. I'm nearsighted, and because my prescription is so strong it interferes a little with my ability to focus close. Sometimes when that gets frustrating I take off my glasses so I can see near without that distortion--the problem is that I'm so nearsighted that I have to hold the book, phone, or hand sewing 3-4 inches from my face or it's too far away. I look ridiculous! I'm nervous about making the transition to anything other than single vision lenses--I think having a section of my glasses that I can't use for distance will really affect the quality of my vision. When I end up needing reading glasses I'll probably get a separate pair.

 

I was that kid who got them around age 8. By high school I could not read the big E on the eye chart. I switched to contacts in college and beyond. In 2000, I had Lasik surgery. I had one eye under-corrected slightly to help with "old people reading" but eventually that advantage failed. I can still see 20/20 even though the Lasik surgery was 20+ years ago.

Now I have to have them for reading. I have a weaker pair for using the computer as I can't read that very well either. I don't wear bifocals because I don't need glasses unless I am reading. I just have pairs of reading glasses all over the house. I finally started carrying a pair in my purse.

 

I was one of those kids who thought that what I saw was normal for everyone.

My elementary school was very progressive. We had a dental hygienist who cleaned every kid's teeth once a year. We also had yearly vision screenings. Towards the end of 4th grade a note was sent to my parents saying that I needed glasses since I was quite nearsighted.

Sometime in my 50's I started needing some help with distance vision so I started wearing progressive bifocals. Luckily, it only took me about 15 minutes to get used to wearing them.

 

I just want to say that thanks to this thread, I scrapped this story from my life. I found pictures of me during a 5 year period before, during and after the glasses. Even though the photos are old, in the before you can see how my eye was crossing. Another memory in the "book"!

 

I'm on the kids list too...I started to use glasses at 10, I never had problems to read the black board on classes because my school used a very interesting system to arrange the girls on the classroom - I studied on a catholic school for girls only. They made us sit on classes according to our height, so as I'm a short person, I have always seated on the front row...so, one day I was not on the top 3 shortest girls on the room and they put me a bit behind and I had difficulties to read, specially numbers, on the board.

Myopia. my friend since then...I used contact lenses my whole life, I had self steem problems with glasses during teen years, because well, kids were bullying me all the time. So I gave up wearing lenses on the last years, I was tired of the routine, and I had a few problems, my work place is not that clean and at the end of the day my eyes were very tired of the conditions...so I'm on the team that can't see a thing without my glasses!!

 

My nearsighted and have astigmatism. I got glasses in when I was 10. I now wear progressive, but I take my glasses off to read or use my iPad. I also have cataracts and was planning on having them removed last summer, COVID changed my plans. Maybe next year.