First contacts at 60!

[Stubee]

Ms. Nutz is jealous because she used to wear them but can no longer. I have worn bifocals for 20 and readers since college 40 years ago.

I’ll be completely honest; it’s a vanity thing for me, looking “younger” on stage and all that.

What say you? Who wears contacts? What’s the motivation?

I started wearing contacts in the 1980s IIRC? Our company was doing trials of a new silicon-based lens and I signed up. I wore soft silicone ones and loved ‘em! You could wear the things for 30 days straight though mine worked better with frequent soaking & cleaning.

The program was scrapped after several years so I had to buy my own and opted for the latest hard gas permeable lenses. I loved the visual acuity & I didn’t know they were in my eyes unless the rare tiny piece of debris found it’s way or under a lens edge or they got suddenly dry (?), and that was an “excuse me!” event as it had to come out immediately. Some days one would just pop out on its own! One day I was rattling for whitetail back in a swamp when I had that happen and the lens dropped into the water. I tried to retrieve it but failed, so I trudged back to my truck & went to my optometrist wearing camo & face paint and bought my first set of disposables.

Now I loved the disposables, too, but as I aged so did my eyes. I finally needed reading glasses too often when wearing contacts and got tired of that. The trifocal contacts didn’t work for me and I couldn’t do the one eye near/one far sighted thing so threw in the towel & got trifocal eyeglasses.

They are fine but I still keep some disposables around to avoid eyeglass fogging when hunting in serious cold where I need to cover my face. I do love contact lenses and I don’t look any better without glasses!

 

[Ed Driscoll]

I was very nearsighted until my recent cataract operations. I wore soft contacts for most of the 1980s. The initial motivation was pure vanity, and to escape the stigma I perceived from my then-thick eyeglasses.

Eventually, I realized I was mostly wearing contacts so that I could wear cool sunglasses. Once I discovered and/or you get sunglasses with prescription lenses in them, I mostly stopped wearing contacts. I remember the first day, getting them out of my eyes, and then getting them back in, was an absolute b*tch. But once I got the mechanics of the process under my belt, I was fine.

 

[Mechanic]

I’ve worn glasses my adult life. Being blond and blue eyed, by choice, I’ve worn sun glasses outside from junior high. No vanity her, reading, machine work, driving I need glasses. I use aviators out side and the gradual bi- focals.

 

[marc2211]

I started wearing glasses (progressive) every day when I was ~40, previously I just had a very small prescription in glasses I wore infrequently. After 41 or so I suddenly realized that I couldn’t read my phone up close without glasses

I got some daily contacts last year, at 43, for a few reasons;

After I changed to progressive lenses I found that I couldn’t get cycling glasses that worked at a reasonable price with progressive lenses (800chf+!). With contacts I can still use my current glasses.

Masks. So fed up of my glasses steaming up when I wear a mask, which I do most of the time.

I have daily progressive lenses for work, and a simple prescription lens for biking as I’m not needed to do close to reading etc.

I only wear them about 25% off the time, but contacts work great for me!

 

[telemnemonics]

I've worn John Lennon glasses (used vintage antique round frames from flea markets I get prescription lenses put in) since before 1970 and I'm not even crazy about Lennon, they were just cheap and plentiful and the damn things work.

 

[telemnemonics]

wore glasses and contacts til I was 40. Got the wavefront lasik, never looked back. had them tune me to read computer screen and the rest as close to 2020 as possible. Took eyetest last summer 20/20...

I do where reading glasses for reading books... and I do have some issues in dark restaurants with small print, but overall... ditch the contacts and have them fix your eyes... best money I ever spent.

Scary aliens with lasers!

 

[telemnemonics]

I started wearing glasses (progressive) every day when I was ~40, previously I just had a very small prescription in glasses I wore infrequently. After 41 or so I suddenly realized that I couldn’t read my phone up close without glasses

I got some daily contacts last year, at 43, for a few reasons;

After I changed to progressive lenses I found that I couldn’t get cycling glasses that worked at a reasonable price with progressive lenses (800chf+!). With contacts I can still use my current glasses.

Masks. So fed up of my glasses steaming up when I wear a mask, which I do most of the time.

I have daily progressive lenses for work, and a simple prescription lens for biking as I’m not needed to do close to reading etc.

I only wear them about 25% off the time, but contacts work great for me!

Oh the fog! The fog!

 

[somebodyelseuk]

Contacts? Pah!
I got my actual lenses replaced, last summer...

Cataracts

 

[boris bubbanov]

Like Getbent, I wore contacts (and sometimes glasses) until in my case, 2000. But my base vision was so bad, I had to choose to either wear readers or to have 20/30 distance vision. I chose the 20/30 and I wear correction when driving at night.

Glad I did the Lasik and I don't miss contacts at all. I couldn't get through more than 2 hours max in a bar (all the smoke, and tired eyes). And riding bikes with contacts, debris would get in your eyes - I ended up carrying glasses as a backup, everywhere, so what was the point? You might get a girl's phone number. But soon enough she'd realize you were blind and things would go south anyway.

 

[KevinB]

I started needing reading glasses in my mid-50's. In my early 60's I had cataract surgery and had multifocal intraocular lenses implanted. They made a huge difference and since then I only occasionally need reading glasses in very dim light.

 

[uriah1]

I thought this was about alien visitations.

I had them back in 80s and I was too lazy to use them.