So I have just come into the misfortune of needing new glasses or contacts (wire glasses do NOT hold up to ds running full blown at my head). My question for those that are visually challenged is:

Are glasses better than contacts due to powders and such flying through the air? Or are contacts better than glasses since you don't have them sliding down your nose?

Help making a fast decision (can't see at all right now).

I wear both... but I like my contacts better. I don't find that I have that much flying around me... except 3 DS!!! I do find that I am constantly "pushing up" glasses that aren't there anymore!!
Hope all works out well!

I'm 48 years old. I've wore contacts since I was 18. Over the last 2 years, I chucked the contacts and went to glasses. Too much sleep deprivation made them very uncomfortable. When you're living on 4 hours sleep a day for over a year, taking the time to put them in in the morning just wasn't worth it. My eyes were tired, I wanted to rub them, make-up melted and got in my eyes.

no longer worth the trouble.

If your glasses are sliding down, take them back for an adjustment. I got new glasses a few months ago and I have zero sliding problems because they are adjusted right .... not loose like my old ones.

(I stopped wearing them because I figured: I'm old. I'm fat. I'm married. What the he** do I need to look good for anymore?!)

I wear contacts. But have been thinking about ordering a pair of glasses. For those quick reads that my daughter seems to put in front of me after I have taken the contacts out for the night. Most of the time it is something that needs to be signed for school (she is 15) think she may be trying to slip one by me at times? Nah! not my "angel"

Personally I've always hated wearing my glasses (except for when I first got them, of course, when they were a novelty back in sixth grade!).

I don't like being able to have a boundary (the frames) where I can't see past. I don't like how they steam up in the winter and the summer - or even when I open the dishwasher to add something. I hate when they have smudges or fingerprints or scratches. My youngest always inevitabley grabs them from my face. Then there is that slide. And finally, even though I did bite the bullet four or five years ago and buy perscription sunglasses, I hate not being able to just put on my sunglasses and go, especially if I happen to be in the middle of driving and the sun comes out. Then I've got to switch glasses instead of just sporting a pair of sunglasses.

Of course contacts can be a bit annoying, too, but I've been lucky that I can wear them for long periods and even sleep with them and they usually don't bother me, but my eye dr. did tell me it's beginning to catch up with me so I'm beginning to seriously consider laser surgery.

indydebi, you crack me up! roflmao! i have worn contacts in the past (far past), but my eyes were to dry and they didn't make lenses that helped with that back then.
I want the surgery, but we can't afford it. I am just tired of turning around and hitting the glasses with crisco, or one of the twins smacking my face (by accident?, I am starting to wonder).
I even tried to super glue the ones I have now, but no deal, broken beyond repair. So I am off to the dr office tomorrow to see what the $ damage will be either way. I just won't make a decision until the end of the week.

I just got a new pair of glasses and they don't slide down my nose like every other pair I've ever had! They must manufacture them differently. The only thing that can be bothersome to me with my glasses is that I'm at the age of needing the reading correction and that makes close up details a little harder ... just have to tilt my head! But I like the glasses!

I wear glasses and just make sure that when I buy sunglasses they aren't tiny... then I just pop em on OVER my normal glasses

I wear glasses, with eyeglass holders. That way if they happen to slip off they won't land on the floor or worse yet in a cake. I like the protection it affords me. I have never worn contacts, just could not think about sticking something in my eyeball, not to mention I have seen so many people constantly rubbing their eyes or getting dirt under them.

I wear both...but I prefer contacts. I have worn them since I was 12 (I am 31 now). I had LASIK surgery 10 years ago but my prescription was so severe that my eyes have regressed to need something 'extra' to see. I have since been told that if I were to have the surgery today, rather than when I did, they wouldn't perform it due to the severity of my eyesight.
In saying that, I prefer contacts (I have an astigmatism =?_) and as I wear gas permeable lens, they help reshape my eye and therefore my eyesight is better for it.
My glasses are ok...but they are heavy on my nose (they don't slip though), but I don't like the fingerprints, smudges, steaming up, or rain that comes with them.
Cleaning them is no big deal just a few extra minutes before bed. And there's no hassle with the sunnies!

I wear both.....contacts during the day and when I get home from work I use my specs.
Weekends I try to give my eyes a rest and just use the specs.
Also, I switched to disposable lens a couple of years ago and have not looked back. I was not good with caring for the lens (deprotein as such).

Laser!!!!! I had my surgery about 10 years ago and forgot about the problem for ever!

I was one of those fortunate people with 20 / 20 vision till I got old and My arms got too short to hold the reading material far enough away to see. I got reading glasses and hated them. As a seamstress I needed to wear them for more than reading and that deteriorated my distance vision some and the eye doctor prescribed bifocals which made me hate the glasses even more. I kept asking for bifocal contacts and he said no they weren't perfected enough. About 6 years ago he finally allowed me to get them. At 54 years old it took a while for me to get used to putting them in but I persisted and I love them. I hope I never have to go back to glasses full time.They are disposables and I take them out every Sunday evening for my eyes to rest. Caking has never given me a problem with PS dust, grease or just rubbing my eyes because I am up way too late decorating that cake I thought was going to be easy.

Indydebi I too am married , old and fat but still very vain about my face. The rest of the body has gone to pot but gotta keep up the face. LOL

I am 34 and have wore contacts since I was 13. I didn't even get a pair of glasses until I was 17-and only because I needed to pick my brother up after events at night and it was a pain to put my contacts back in. I only wear my glasses if I'm super tired or before bed. I will have Lasik surgery done as soon as I can afford it...which may not be for a few years. I do not have any problem with the dusts or anything in my eyes, but I've heard that is an issue for some people.

i wore contacts for 30 years, until vision was SO bad, they couldn't make them any stronger and had to go back to glasses == ugh!

soo......after having cataract surgery to correct the underlying problem --

LASIK!!!! fixed it up the rest of the way.

BUT===

warning ---

as we age, the arms seem to shrink. that paper is just too dang close.

there will come a point that you have to get reading glasses and keep them handy for any close work -- including cakes.

but a $3 pair of reading glasses from drug store is a dang site cheaper than prescription ones.

And you can't be the LASIK for giving great distance vision.

Lasik .............6 years ago now and loving it................I wore very thick glasses from the age of 5, and then moved on to contacts in my twenties, until my allergies became bad enough that I could not put them in anymore, so I went to the surgery.........

Wow, this has gone back and forth like crazy. One minute contacts are ahead, and the next glasses are. I couldn't get a babysitter for today, so I will have to wait until Friday now. Guess it will give me a better chance to decide. I really wish i could ge the surgery, but financially it isn't an option. Up here it is $3500 for both eyes, as there is only one dr in all of Alaska who does it. Maybe next year, when we move down to the Lower 48.

Contacts, I hate my glasses! I only wear them right before bed, and first thing in the morning.

Contacts .....I got them in high school (many, many, many years ago) because I kept wrecking my car from not wearing my glasses LOL I love my contacts and have no problems. I hope I never have to change back to glasses. Those glasses hurt my ears LOL

LASIK!!! I had the procedure done in August 2004 and LOVE IT! My vision is at 20/20 (don't know the exact number). I would recommend it for those who are sick of glasses and contacts.

I wear glasses and I hate them. They look dumpy and they bother your nose after wearing them all day. Also I have a stigmatism (?spelling) in my eyes AND I hate putting anything near my eyes. That is why I haven't had the surgery yet either.

If you want my vote it would be for CONTACTS!

Good luck!

Just did Lasik too! Back in March of this year. i was seeing great the day after, even attended a party. Although i didn't party hard.
Week after went in for the follow up, i was at 20/20! Just went for another follow up last month, still doing great! i used to wear glasses since i was about 8 years old. didn't have a choice but to wear then and they were big too! lol
When i started the baking & decorating i was already in contacts, but needed to take them off more often than what i wanted to. I think all the flour, sugar and powdery stuff was getting to my eyes and i couldn't stop itching.
So happy i did the surgery, although i'll be paying for a few months til the next Tax season.

I would LOVE to be able to go back to contacts, but years of incorrect contact usage have made my eyes sensitive to them. I got my first pair of bifocals last year and while I HATE glasses, these have worked fairly well. I need some correction to read, but still find myself taking them off to read the tiny print and for decorating. I would definitely opt for contacts if I were able to have the choice.

This is such interesting reading to see so many different aspects! I would be curious if there is a pattern in the "for and against" columns of the ages of us? Are the older ones more for contacts? Younger?

I'm in the older column and I just got tired of messing with all the work involved in contacts. Plus all of that pulling on your eye to get them in and out promotes eye wrinkles .... it stretches the elasticity in your skin.

I would love to get the Lasik because I tend to fall asleep watching TV .... hard enough in contacts (although I could take naps wearing my gas permeables which may explain why my eyes are damaged from 30 years of contact wear), and not a good idea wearing glasses either.

I am 51 and I now wear contacts after years of glasses that made it hard for me to breath. The contacts that I wear stay in my eyes for a month 24/7. I love them. When I wake up it is a little foggy because my eyes are dry from sleep. I just put drops in them and see clear again. I would not go back to glasses if at all possible. My contacts are called Day/Night. I wore glasses for over 20 years and because of a sinus problem the glasses made it uncomfortable to breath. Good Luck

personally i have this thing about touching my eyes i think its gross.. i don't have a very strong perscription so i can get away with not wearing them all the time... i only wear them in class and when driving and seeing long distance basically... i LOVE my glasses... i think they look great on they are chanel to they are also stylish with the little diamond cc. i also think they make me look smarter lol my optimist gave me some contacts to try icouldn't get the darn things in and when i did i blinked and out they came.... oh well i guuess practise makes perfect!

I have worn glasses since high school, at first it was for reading and cross stitching and the smaller stuff but now i have to have them most all the time. i tried contacts a few years ago and it just didn't work for me, the littlest particles of dust that got in my eyes made it feel like i had a bolder or tree trunk in there lol also, i have a bacteria in my eyes that really affects the contacts, i got it all cleared up with meds but the contacts still didn't work right for me. also, my daughter started wearing glasses when she was 2 and it really helped that me and dh both wear them, made it so much easier for her to accept them and she's never really argued with us over them.

I vote for LASIK as well. It was pricey - but money VERY well spent!! I had glasses since the 3rd grade and then got contacts in my 20's. But after a year or so they would get extremely uncomfortable to wear and I'd need a new pair. I had astigmatism so they were the gas permeable lenses. I could never get by with just the contacts though. I always had glasses as well.

I had my eyes fixed about 3 years ago. It is wonderful. One thing to consider - if your employer has a health spending account - you could have the money deducted from your paycheck to be put into your account. This is done pre-tax and then your costs go down because you aren't being taxed on that money.