Topic Overview

Advantages of eyeglasses

• Most adults, children, and infants can wear glasses.
• Glasses provide accurate and predictable vision correction. Eyeglasses reliably correct your vision to within 0.50 diopter of the desired correction.
• Glasses are less expensive than contact lenses or surgery. They are easier to take care of than contact lenses.
• Glasses are unlikely to cause side effects, because they never touch the eyeball itself.
• Glasses are available everywhere and can be changed easily as your vision changes.
• Glasses can protect your eyes from injury (such as something getting in your eye).

Disadvantages of eyeglasses

• In some types of work (such as firefighting) or in active sports, eyeglasses may be unacceptable (although some athletes may wear prescription goggles during sporting events).
• Some people find glasses inconvenient, uncomfortable, annoying (they tend to fog up in humid or cold environments, for example), or unattractive.
• Eyeglasses can be broken or lost.