Contacts vs glasses, which side are you on? Lennon or Mccartney, Ronaldo or Messi, cats or dogs; people have been divided over their choices since time eternal. You choose one, you are intrinsically going against the other. Much like that, there is another debate on a whole other spectrum; contact lenses vs glasses, which provide better vision? People who wear prescribed lenses or glasses have the most say on this topic as they have to make do with one of these. Some say that glasses offer a lot more ease while others say lenses don’t burden you as much. It all depends on your perspective(quite literally) and choices.

Well, we will have to discuss it at length on several parameters to figure out if one stands above the other. Here we go again:

Contacts vs glasses: Ease-Of-Wear

In the tug of war in contact lenses vs glasses, it's always recommended to test which of theses accessory would at your best comfort. Glasses are a more put-it-on and take-it-off type of an accessory. You can just take it off and lay it on the side of your head when going to sleep; you can put it on again in the morning without worrying about a specific procedure. While most lenses you find have to be taken off before sleeping or are meant for short-term use not going more than two days at maximum. Now, there are also lenses available which only need to be washed once a week but those are more expensive than the normal ones.

Some people also complain that their eyes shudder while putting on lenses even after a long time of using them. That might change after an elongated use. Let’s say you travelled long hours to an out-of-town hub and there is a thin layer of dust now stuck on your face; you will have to firstly take off the lenses before washing your face and then put it on again. That will certainly take more time than putting on a pair of glasses or removing them. You will have to worry more about scratches if you wear a pair of spectacles; with contact lenses, you are only concerned about the durability. This concludes the winner for higher comfort and ease of operation in glasses vs contacts. Contact lenses might seem like an efficient solution but it never works out for the long run

Ease Of Use: One pitted against the other

There are a lot of pros and cons on each side when we talk about contact lenses vs glasses. Contact lenses do have a wider peripheral vision and do not give any blockage to your area of vision while wearing those. Even with the widest of glasses and frames, eyeglasses do block a bit of your peripheral vision. Don’t believe me? Open your eyes wide open and look for the outline of your frame, you will notice it which means it is blocking a part of your peripheral vision.

Lenses are a better option if we talk about peripheral vision; they move with your eyes and provide a definite ease-of-use. If your pair of glasses isn’t light or made from a par-standard material, you will see that it sits uncomfortably on your nose and leaves marks between your eyes and nose. Contact lenses may take more time to get adjusted to, but they do not sit heavy and do not leave any imprints.

There are other problems glass-wearers would feel from the heart; whenever you get out of a room or a car where the AC was on, a cloud of fog immediately sets on your glasses and takes time to go away. Much like that, whenever you try to take a sip from a hot cup of coffee the glasses start getting foggy from the mild steam coming out. People who have been prescribed a high power of glasses wear it during a bath too; the hot water you pour on yourself during winters clog up your view and make for an irritating bath.

What about wearing It outdoors?

Anybody who ever wore a pair of spectacles will tell you how difficult it is wearing one while playing any sports. Imagine taking a header in football and your glasses falling down with the impact or taking a shoot in the face breaking the frame into two. Playing sports is hard with a pair of spectacles on your face; remember Daniel Vettori when he got hit on the face wearing spectacles?. What about wearing glasses while going to the gym? There is no risk of a ball hitting your face, is there? Working out can also be harder with a pair of spectacles on. Working out will make those sweat glands go all pumping; with sweat coming out from your forehead and face, the spectacles will be on a slippery surface and will likely keep going down that nose. Imagine working out your legs with the face down and your spectacles just hanging there on your face.

Contact lenses are much better when it comes to usage in sports. Look to Novak Djokovic for example, he has been wearing disposable contact lenses for years now. Contact lenses give you ease and do not cause any blockage to the peripheral vision. Nobody needs anything holding them back while playing sports, much less than their vision itself. It is much better if you wear contact lenses. They are also better while driving or riding a bike(specs-wearers would know the trouble with frames and helmets). For your outdoor environment, we can guess who won this war between contact lenses vs glasses prescription. It’s good to opt for a vision device that lets you have fun at the moment, be adventurous and sporty. You should confine your hobbies and activities just because your vision device doesn’t act suitably in that situation. The idea of switching from glasses to contacts may seem good for some instance in your life but they are often awfully time-consuming.

Talk About Flaunting The Style

Ah! The age-old argument about style and comfort. Well, it all depends on how you choose to portray yourself. So here are the pros and cons:

Colors- Of course, there are innumerable more colors in frames and the tint of glasses than what companies producing contact lenses could offer. Every color perceivable to the human eye has already been put singularly on frames or in a mixture. If giving off a colorful and vibrant appeal is your thing, wearing spectacles would be a better choice for you. There are more styles available as well, giving your face a look that cannot be possible with only wearing contact lenses. Well, that is a debate for another point when we pit contact lenses against glasses.

Designs- Hazelnut, Deep Blue, Chestnut Brown; these are a few of the colors contact lenses can offer you. They can show a different color of your iris and fulfil your secret wish of having a different color of eyes. But, they can only offer you one design and that is of the eye’s lens. WIth spectacles, you can try out hundreds of thousands of colors and styles; choosing one which fits perfectly with your personality or that part which you so want to show the world.

Going with your Dressing- Contact lenses do not cause you so much trouble deciding what goes with what while you dress for an occasion. Let us say you have to wear a dress for a formal occasion; your tortoiseshell cat-eyed frames might not go with the elegant black gown you were about to wear to that occasion. That is enough to make your search for another pair that doesn’t look odd; you do not have to worry about this while wearing contact lenses as there is no mixture of different colors that makes you stand out of the crowd(not in a good way).

Comfort- This plays a vital factor in most of our decisions; many people don’t want to risk their outward appearance with a different choice. Let us say, you are giving off the greatest maid of honour’s speech at your friend’s wedding and you rub your eyes to stop that tiny droplet of a tear; your contact lenses might come off and you will hate it for that moment alone. That will never be an issue with glasses, a comfort most people seek.

An End To The Debate. Hopefully?

Well, we have summed up some of the pros and cons of both types. It all depends on what you expect from your eyewear. People who have been wearing glasses for many years find it difficult to switch to contact lenses later. While eyeglasses score high on a few parameters, contact lenses score similarly high on others. When people talk ‘contact lenses vs glasses’, they do not realize a few things. What may work for one occasion might not for the other; what may be brilliant in one situation might cause you trouble in another. What may be comfortable at one time might cause you pain at another. As said at the start of this article, it is an age-old debate and one with no answer. All we can say is, choose according to your priorities.