A: A good question. When patients first learn that they require assistance to see better, this is often the first question they think of. In general, glasses are the safer choice. Glasses offer physical protection for the eyes. Eye injuries are common, but with glasses on the face the eyes are generally safe. High velocity foreign bodies can rarely fracture glasses. Certain high tensile strength plastics (polycarbonate) can be put into protective eye wear and are essentially bulletproof.
So why wear contact lenses? One of the downsides of glasses is their appearance and weight. Some patients do not like the look of glasses. Certain strong prescriptions are quite heavy and put a strain on the nose and ears. Glasses are easy to lose and can fall off the face and get scratched.
Contact lenses solve this list of difficulties. But contacts have their own set of problems. They can be difficult to insert into the eyes and occasionally will fall out, especially hard and gas-permeable lenses. Patients may develop intolerance to soft contact solutions and get persistent red eyes. Soft contacts worn for years may cause chronic dry eyes.
If patients over-wear contacts, they may get infections including corneal ulcers. These are quite painful, require many days of medications, and can, in rare circumstances, threaten the eyesight.
When people develop presbyopia (difficulty with near vision when over age 45), bifocal glasses easily solve the problem.
For contact lens wearers, the choices are more complex. They can wear "drug store readers" or put a contact for distance vision in one eye and for near vision in the other (monovision). With both glasses and contacts, as the eyes age and change, updated prescriptions are needed. Your eye care specialist can help you make the decision which is best for you.
Laser eye correction gives you the freedom to live your life free of glasses and contacts, and when you do start to develop presbyopia there are other options available to ensure that you stay glasses and contacts free for as long as possible.
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