Glasses & Contact Lenses - Comparison

If the parts of your eyes are not working together properly, your vision needs some help. Lenses have been used for centuries to correct or improve vision and nowadays there are two types of lenses for this purpose.

Eyeglasses are the more traditional kind of vision correction. They are the most common form of eyewear, basically a frame which holds together two pieces of glass or plastic ground into lenses to correct refractive errors like nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism (an irregular cornea shape that distorts vision).

The other kind of vision correcting lenses is the contact lenses. Contacts are worn directly on the surface of the cornea. There are many differences between eyeglasses and contacts but let’s see some common features. First of all they both serve the same function and correct vision by adding or substracting focus power to the eye’s cornea and lens. Second, they both require careful handling and cleaning: glasses have to be sprayed and wiped while contacts need varying procedures of care, depending on their type. Third, they are both affordable and probably the cheapest item in your wardrobe in spite of their obvious importance to the quality of your life.

Besides these similarities, there are many differences between eyeglasses and contact lenses. For example if you wear glasses, your peripheral or side vision will be of lower quality while contact lenses cover your entire cornea and thus your field of vision is uniform. When you are wearing glasses you are constantly aware of the frame and the lens edge while with contacts there are no annoying obstructions or reflections. Contacts would also be the bets solution for those who practice sports as not all eyeglasses are suitable for sports or car driving because of the low quality of the peripheral vision correction.

In addition to these, contacts have many other advantages but the risk of an eye infection is also higher with them as substances in the human tear can build up on the contact lenses. To avoid this you should choose daily disposable lenses that are removed and replaced with a new pair of lenses each day, like 1 Day Acuvue, produced by Johnson & Johnson, so this risk is reduced. No matter which vision correction lens you choose, there are many aspects to consider, but the good thing is that you do have a choice!

If you are not a candidate for LASIK.....try implantable contacts!!