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getting used to wearing glasses

kay

Well-Known Member
How long does it take to get used to wearing glasses? I just picked up my first pair of prescription glasses and being age 45 I'm starting with progressive lenses. Will I ever get used to these things? The distortion from moving side to side is suppose to go away as you adjust but the amount of detail is a bit overwhelming. I can see every little everything. And then there is the thing of having them on my head all day. Just constantly sitting on my nose.

I don't know if my sensory issues are going to make this impossible or not. Anyone have any problems? The only people I know to ask have no sensory issues. :cool:
 
I have no sensory issues, so can't help you there. I'm 49 and wear glasses or contacts all the time. The world will not move around as you turn your head if you wear contacts as opposed to glasses. There are progressive contacts, but I've very little experience with them. I'm short-sighted and my prescription is now strong enough that I require reading glasses to see up close if I have my contacts in, carrying reading glasses is an option instead of progressive lenses. When wearing glasses I do get used to everything moving around as I swivel my head, the effect is that everything no longer moves, the part of the brain that interprets input from the eyes compensates.
 
It will probably depend on your ability to cope or adapt to these changes. I wear glasses as well, and I don't think I've ever liked them. Rather than bump into a wall or not read books or do art, or be unable to drive, I choose the glasses if they will help make a fog filled distant view a clearer one.
Will admit that a framed view of the world is not optimum, and neither is something pushing your nose from both sides. It's not comfortable and it's inconvenient when it rains, snows, or coming in from the cold to the warmth as the glasses fog-up. Something touching your nose and ears is also not comfortable, and I have a habit of constantly adjusting my glasses to get them to feel better.
Your only real alternatives, instead of glasses are contact lenses, or lasik eye surgery. Both costly and somewhat short term. The glasses won't improve your vision, but they will aid or correct it. Good luck.
 
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Wow. (over 40 years without glasses)

I lived 6 years without glasses.
My mother cried the day I got mine.
I pointed to a tree:
"Mama, look. The leaves are separate."

My first glasses were bifocals.
Regular.
My glasses now are bifocals.
I don't use them for anything close.
Looking through them to read a book or use the monitor
would be ridiculous. Too painful. The feeling of muscular strain.

They are ok for walking around or for quick glances at things.
I don't think I could use progressive lenses.
I have considered it, but it seems nauseating.

My vision is 20/400+ without glasses.
The last place I got my glasses, the optometrist was too
condescending to tell me the exact number.
"When it's like you, we just say "The Big E," he said, chuckling.

So far I have said nothing useful or to the point.

What I know about adjusting to glasses is that putting them on
in the morning is the best time. That way you get a fresh start.
Your innocent morning eyes haven't been making adjustments
all day and they tend to submit to correction easier then.

A good point of wearing glasses is fewer bugs fly into your eyes.
 
I don't know if this will help, but it can't hurt:

I haven't had glasses since I was 18, but as a kid I remember every new pair of glasses bugging the crap out of me on the nose and ears. If I remember right, that went away after about 2 weeks. I don't remember how long for the first pair. I do remember the distortion you mention, I think that went away after a few days.
 
Ouch. To start out with your very first pair of glasses having progressive lenses?

I tried progressive lenses once. Once.

Simply could not adjust to them. Otherwise more conventional bifocals...hours...days tops to adjust to them.

Could be worse though had you started with contact lenses. I wore them for maybe five years or more.
 
Thanks for all the quick responses! Glad to know there is a chance of at least learning to tolerate them even if I never love them. In twenty years I'll end up getting cataracts removed anyway, they run in the family, and then I can see without these things. I did talk to the optician and he said I may need an adjustment or two and that it does take awhile to get used to them. Sometimes two weeks. Two weeks for me, if ever.

The idea of contacts scares me because I don't like the idea of putting something in my eye like that. Half the time just making a ponytail is challenging, can't imagine having luck sticking a little tiny thing on my eyeball.

I chose progressives because I do a lot of art where I need to see very close up and then far away, often. Just sorta looking up and down, up and down. It's been bugging me for awhile going from reading glasses to a slightly blurred distant view and then having to put the reading glasses back on again so I thought just keeping something on my head would be better.

It is amazing to be able to read street signs. I had spent forever just assuming no one could read those things.
 
Both my room mate and myself got progressive and failed at them! I know what you mean. But my mom loves hers, so it is just a matter of the person, I guess.
 
I had to start wearing glasses at 14, originally only when in classes to see the board. Then at 16 I had to start wearing them all the time. I don't think it took that long in the grand scheme of things to get used to them, although mine are just for distance, so no variation in the lenses. I'm 31 now, and hate not having my glasses on.
 
one eye sharp, one eye fuzzy beyond a few feet. my brain somehow takes the better of the two and I see adequately so far without glasses in my fifth decade of taking up space on this earth. am putting off the glasses as long as I can. my mother didn't have to wear 'em until she was a senior. I hope I am as lucky.
 
Day two. I put these things on first thing and am hoping it will go better. Still have the distortion when I move side to side and I find sitting here staring at the computer monitor is easier without glasses.

The biggest problem is going to be my tendency to look down when I walk and out of the corners of my eyes a lot.

But for working on a painting these glasses work well so far.

OkRad, my mom just loves her progressives, too.

Abby normal, I have been ignoring my bad right eye I think since my 20's. The left eye just finally wasn't good enough to keep up. Hope you can continue avoiding glasses because picking out frames is even difficult. Life is so much easier without something sitting on your face all day.
 
kay, i was given regular glasses as an adult [no idea what lenses they are,but they arent those special coloured ones that you can get privately,i forget the name],meant to wear all the time as i couldnt communicate wit hthem and they didnt understand i have very impaired visual processing/perception so have confused my issue with needing glasses,yes they get rid of some fuzz around letters but they dont really help,and i rarely can cope with them,in fact ive not wore them for weeks and ive got no clue where they are. :p

when i put on glasses,i get sensory overload from the physical feel of them, icannot get used to the feel,and then there is the issue of looking through them, to me its very distorting and weird like everything isnt real and i dont like it.
 
I've had all kinds of issues with glasses.

Contacts work much better for me.

I understand the sensory issues very well. Contacts (if you can tolerate them) remove the edge distortion, are compatible with sports equipment, and are helpful at work.

You also can't feel them when they are in.
 
I started wearing glasses in my mid-40s, too. And I still see peripheral artifacts even today, but I've gotten used to them. I mostly need them for reading. I am up to trifocals, now.

I notice that they tend to dull colors and decrease my normal night vision.
It is amazing to be able to read street signs. I had spent forever just assuming no one could read those things.
That reminded me of a movie quote from Naked Gun (1988):
Detective Frank Drebin said:
Jane, since I've met you, I've noticed things that I never knew were there before... birds singing, dew glistening on a newly formed leaf, stoplights.
 
one eye sharp, one eye fuzzy beyond a few feet. my brain somehow takes the better of the two and I see adequately so far without glasses in my fifth decade of taking up space on this earth. am putting off the glasses as long as I can. my mother didn't have to wear 'em until she was a senior. I hope I am as lucky.
Day two. I put these things on first thing and am hoping it will go better. Still have the distortion when I move side to side and I find sitting here staring at the computer monitor is easier without glasses.

The biggest problem is going to be my tendency to look down when I walk and out of the corners of my eyes a lot. But for working on a painting these glasses work well so far. OkRad, my mom just loves her progressives, too. Abby normal, I have been ignoring my bad right eye I think since my 20's. The left eye just finally wasn't good enough to keep up. Hope you can continue avoiding glasses because picking out frames is even difficult. Life is so much easier without something sitting on your face all day.
my late mother got pretty good at repairing her old frames as she couldn't stand any of the new ones that she could find at an optician's. I suspect I will be the same way, I can't stand those nose post things that give you little nose ulcers in the skin on the upper inner aspect of each side of the nose that the glasses rest upon, I would try to find frames that did away with that or had large feet with large contact area.
 
I've been wearing glasses since I was 9. I'm 32 and they STILL drive me batty. I hate the feeling of them on my nose. When it's hot, the parts that contact my face feel hot, sweaty, and sometimes itchy. Sometimes they make me motion sick. The last doctor I saw said they're over powered, but my eyes have gotten so used to it that going down a lower power makes everything blurry, so that might explain my dizziness. I got contact lenses when I was 14 and I prefer to wear them.
 
I started wearing glasses in my mid-40s, too. And I still see peripheral artifacts even today, but I've gotten used to them. I mostly need them for reading. I am up to trifocals, now.

I notice that they tend to dull colors and decrease my normal night vision.

That reminded me of a movie quote from Naked Gun (1988):

I'm having the opposite experience. My glasses are making everything seem more intense. Brighter colors, not duller, and my night vision is much, much better. It's both good and bad. Kinda missing the soft focus because I had less stuff going into my brain. Now I can even read the closed captions on televisions as I walk by houses.
 
It will probably depend on your ability to cope or adapt to these changes. I wear glasses as well, and I don't think I've ever liked them. Rather than bump into a wall or not read books or do art, or be unable to drive, I choose the glasses if they will help make a fog filled distant view a clearer one.
Will admit that a framed view of the world is not optimum, and neither is something pushing your nose from both sides. It's not comfortable and it's inconvenient when it rains, snows, or coming in from the cold to the warmth as the glasses fog-up. Something touching your nose and ears is also not comfortable, and I have a habit of constantly adjusting my glasses to get them to feel better.
Your only real alternatives, instead of glasses are contact lenses, or lasik eye surgery. Both costly and somewhat short term. The glasses won't improve your vision, but they will aid or correct it. Good luck.
got to disagree i had lasik eye surgery 25 years ago and its amazing to see 20:20
 
it took me minutes when i wore glasses to teach my brain to perceive the change
its been 25 years since Ive worn glasses
How long does it take to get used to wearing glasses? I just picked up my first pair of prescription glasses and being age 45 I'm starting with progressive lenses. Will I ever get used to these things? The distortion from moving side to side is suppose to go away as you adjust but the amount of detail is a bit overwhelming. I can see every little everything. And then there is the thing of having them on my head all day. Just constantly sitting on my nose.

I don't know if my sensory issues are going to make this impossible or not. Anyone have any problems? The only people I know to ask have no sensory issues. :cool:
How long does it take to get used to wearing glasses? I just picked up my first pair of prescription glasses and being age 45 I'm starting with progressive lenses. Will I ever get used to these things? The distortion from moving side to side is suppose to go away as you adjust but the amount of detail is a bit overwhelming. I can see every little everything. And then there is the thing of having them on my head all day. Just constantly sitting on my nose.

I don't know if my sensory issues are going to make this impossible or not. Anyone have any problems? The only people I know to ask have no sensory issues. :cool:
 

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