I decided not to go with LASIK just because it doesn't seem worth the tradeoff. Contacts take me about thirty seconds per day to insert and remove, not a big deal. Just making up the LASIK recovery period would take a long time. Plus the risk of permanent side-effects. Contacts have those too, but it can be substantially mitigated by using them properly (always washing hands, never sleeping in them, always changing them at the appropriate time, etc.).

I totally understand why people might see the tradeoffs differently, of course.

1. Peripheral, especially when driving.

2. Uncomfortable, pinches nose, laying down on side with them on.

Also: Modification of scale of things. Makes things smaller the further they are from my eyes. Not a big deal, but I always feel kind of satisfied when I go back to contacts because of accuracy of perception. I suppose if I can get glasses with thinner material this might be less of an issue.

Keeping them clean and smudge free isn't that big of a deal for me, I just wipe them with my shirt, and normally it's not bad enough to bother me. Fogging is slightly annoying I suppose, but goes away quick.

I also seemed to have an ever-increasing strength of prescription. The last time I had them checked was in 2010, and my optometrist changed my brand from Coopervision to Acuvue because I was refusing to take mine off at night, and the Oasis is supposed to be more meant for that. I then had two bouts of some sort of pink eye (after nights of heavy drinking, but still didn't happen with my Coopervision even then), and also in general my eyes would feel drier in them. They had these slits that would become uncomfortable fairly quickly.

I switched back to my old Coopervision prescription from 2008 or 2009 and they have been working fine for me. From my own anecdotal experience, it's my theory that the constant stronger prescriptions are what makes your eyes worse. I've also heard anecdotes from other people about them just stopping wearing eye correction and their eyes get better.

I have a hunch that optometrists tend to slightly overprescribe the strength. Every time I would get a new prescription, I would walk out with superhuman vision, but than after a few days my eyes would adjust. At my last visit to the optometrist, I actually requested a lower strength and they obliged. And while I might have to squint here and there to read something really far away, I spend a good chunk of my time in front of computer, so I prefer the lower strength.

And I agree on increasing your eye strength as well. I try to take off my glasses frequently, and I have noticed that if I go for a while without them, my vision seems a little better when I put them back on. Also there are some apps that help as well [1]

[1] Came across this link on HN a while back: https://github.com/Fordi/eyegame

the last 4 or so years before lasik I mostly wore glasses except for special occasions where I'd wear contacts.

What has your post-lasik experience been like?

LASIK recovery is just 2 days or so - PRK can be 2 weeks

I clean them with a t-shirt when smudges happen to impede vision. Happens only when somebody pokes them with a finger. If your pillow is soft enough, you can even lie down on them and the glasses are just fine. They don't care, they just bend a bit.

No weird shit to put in your eyes. Take them off whenever they annoy you. Change your entire face every few years when buying a new pair. That's always exciting.

I guess I'm lucky that I can do sports and such without glasses. Means I can just take them off when they'd get in the way. Same for fogging when I transition from cold to warm. Take them off, carry on.

My doctors always said I should avoid wearing glasses 24/7 because something about eye laziness, but I am much more comfortable when the world isn't blurry. So I wear them 24/7 except for certain sports and sleep.

<3 glasses

Yes, my face looks weird without my glasses, the overall shape is very different!

Finally, when I was about 27, I broke down and got glasses as I noticed my vision was slipping.

I can still walk around and drive without them. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and do some on-call work for 20min while squinting at the screen. I can spend a few hours walking around the house without them.

But I never leave home without them, and I never drive or work without them, and I never take them off. I simply don't see the problems you see; yes, they get dirty, i clean them perhaps once a week. I don't smudge them because I'm careful not to.

I still rather quite like them and the way they look. I have no desire to poke my fingers into my eyes or get lasers shot into them.

I'm sure you could argue that it's different for me because I don't have to wear them to see, but it's really not that different -- I wear them every minute of every waking day except those extraordinarily rare days I mention.

It helps that I go out of my way to get glasses I like. I have a few pair of colorful titanium and carbon fiber frames. Yes, it's a bit painful to spend $600+ every year or two, but worth it to have something I like the look of.

Definitely has downsides. Smudging and fogging is so frustrating, but I've gotten used to it.

Glasses have some upsides too. For instance when it's windy, they're a shield that makes you less likely to have unwanted things get into your eye :)

So the only time I ever take off my glasses is in the shower.

As an aside I always wondered how they are able to measure an infant's vision before they can really communicate.

And of course slightly older babies have ways of communicating without words! https://youtube.com/watch?v=84-Cuc-Tz2o

As far as babies being able to communicate in other ways, my mom noticed that it seemed like I was having trouble with vision well before I could talk, that's how I ended up in the opthalmologist's office in the first place. :)

For what it's worth I solved my own issue by insisting on a slightly stronger prescription (-0.25) for my myopia. It's well worth a try, especially for driving at night. The easiest way to tell if it would help is if green traffic lights look significantly blurrier than than red traffic lights in the distance.

I remember colored lights being involved in eye exams when I was very, very, very young... But that may be a false memory, it's hard to really know.

- Some think glasses look good - Glasses protect the eyes from wind, rain and flying particles

Yes, the glasses do get foggy and smudgy. But when riding a bike, they shield the eyes. Also, at the age of 50, I've had several eyeglass lenses scratched by things like a piece of metal or stone flying off an angle grinder, or dust/sand blown by a pneumatic nailgun. Without glasses, the same things would have hit my eyes.

> But when riding a bike, they shield the eyes.

In my experience, they shield the eyes from sand and small debris, but they also tunnel the wind in from the top and bottom with more force, resulting in constantly flowing tears if going at any decent biking speed. I always hated riding with glasses because of that, especially as the tears would end up staining the glasses and making it harder to see.

When it rains (particularly -0°C water) the glasses are indeed quite difficult to see through, but then the eyes would be very irritated too.

Now if I could just find something comfortable to block out all the wind noise.

I dunk my glasses into my cleaner every morning while I'm showering.

THANKS

p.s. disposable wipes with rubbing alcohol are great for keeping them clean (although terrible for the environment), and getting a non-reflective coating definitely helps keep the effects of the smudging to a minimum.

Do it now. When you're older (40 or so) you're going to need glasses for driving/reading anyway

I don't mind the fashion part, but wearing glasses (or contacts) gets really annoying with anything to do with water--swimming or even rain. I'm also a bit paranoid I'm going to lose or break them when travelling or camping (I should buy a backup). I find dirty lenses distracting and it's a huge pain to keep glasses clean. I also find using SLR cameras annoying. I can adjust the diopter to get it in focus, but I have to take my glasses off when I hold it to my face.

I guess the grass is always greener on the other side.

Add sports in general and VR goggles to that list

Then I got one of those round, cool-looking glasses that really go with the shape and my face, and it changed everything. I love wearing glasses now. (Btw. they are Ace and Tate, the European Warby parker.)

So, finding glasses that you absolutely love is crucial.

PS: I also have a nerdy pair for coding, they are weightless and super comfy for computer. Don't feel confident in them though.

Strange, I have those same side effects from getting older! That happens to everybody with age.

I look forward to the day that I can stick some stem cells in a vat, come back in a month or two, and have some brand-new eyeballs.

So, it can actually be much easier to see someone with dark clothing when I have sunglasses on.

I see fine for most purposes. Thankfully, it's nearsightedness, which means I do not need any correction to work on computers (this is obviously a biggie). I use retina displays at higher-than-default simulated resolution (i.e. smaller everything) w/ no issue.

I tried contacts when I used to play soccer because you can't wear glasses due to safety concerns (for yourself). They were fine, but I have a natural dislike for putting things anywhere in/on my body unless absolutely necessary, and just the though of putting something in my eyes repulses me. I only wore them when I played, and would wear glasses by choice any other time.

For the most part, I see pretty well w/o correction -- I wear glasses because I really, really enjoy the sense of vision and want it to be as crystal clear as possible in order to experience it to its fullest. When I moved to California and I passed the driver's lic vision test w/o glasses, which surprised even me. I still wear them every time I drive, because again, not just for safety, but I really enjoy seeing as clear as my sensors (eyes) can resolve - it's a signal-to-noise/quality concern.

I never once thought about not wearing glasses because of how they look. If that's a concern, there's so much choice out there these days that there's a style for everyone. I prefer as small and light as possible so I wear half wire frame in flexible titanium. I mostly put them on when I drive, but, and this is a big but:

ProTip: You can/should get corrected permanent sunglasses! These are the best thing since before, and after, sliced bread! I do happen to have more sensitive than average eyes, but I'm never outside w/o my permanent Rx sunglasses. You can get really good/cool looking ones, I'm into sports so I wear a sporty frame. Not a concern to me, but "nobody knows" they are actually vision glasses too during the day. I then wear the clear ones at night/when watching TV or a performance, anytime I want to see maximally clear, particularly at a distance. Believe it or not, this is not that much, for example I don't need them at a dinner party.

On LASIK: until such a time that my vision requires major correction I'm not even considering it. The system I've developed works really well for me, and I think if and when I will need it the technology, and potentially solutions, will be superior at that point.

I've found frames that complement my face since getting LASIK. Sometimes I wear them ironically to parties.

This is why the (British, at least) military isn't keen on it...