Swapping glasses for contact lenses can dramatically increase success with the opposite sex, research on short-sighted students in a nightclub has found.

The researchers caution that this preliminary study is not sufficiently rigorous for scientific publication, but believe it shows that eyewear choice may have a significant impact on how attractive a person looks and feels.

The team, led by June McNicholas at the University of Warwick, took 38 male and female students aged between 18 and 25 to a London nightclub, with strict instructions to go and “pull”. The students were split into three groups: those who wore their normal form of sight correction, those who swapped contact lenses for glasses and those who swapped glasses for contact lenses just for that night.

The students were not told that eight monitors would be patrolling the club, attempting to corroborate their reported experiences.


Most people who swapped to contact lenses reported increased self-confidence, while 75 per cent of those who swapped to glasses reported feeling less confident. And “feelings of enhanced ‘pulling power’ and improved self-confidence among contact lens wearers were translated into tangible results on the night,” says McNicholas.

Overall, twice as many contact lens-wearers as glasses-wearers reported “pulling” that night. And those wearing lenses instead of their usual glasses were three times more likely to report ‘hugging’, four times as likely to report ‘kissing’ and six times more likely to report ‘fondling’ than when wearing their glasses, she says.

Looking good, feeling good

However, the eight monitors were not able to corroborate all reported behaviours. “If I was going to publish this research, I’d want to do it again with a few more observers,” says McNicholas.

There are probably multiple reasons for improved success in the glasses-wearers who switched to contact lenses, the researchers think. Previous studies have found that people without glasses are rated as more attractive. “But if you feel more attractive you also behave in a more outgoing way,” says McNicholas.

There are probably also more fundamental explanations, she says. “Anything that obscures our eyes is obscuring one very important method that we have of making social signals to each other. Girls getting ready to go out will emphasise their eyes with make-up. But they can’t do that if those glasses magnify their eyes, for example.”

The apparently negative impact of glasses in a nightclub situation could be reversed in other forms of interaction, such as in a job interview, McNicholas notes.